Unified messaging platform and interface for providing inline replies

ABSTRACT

A unified messaging platform is described which provides a comprehensive environment for collaboration, file sharing, and project management. In aspects, the unified messaging platform is organized based on one or more teams or projects, where each team or project is further organized by customizable categories. A user interface is provided for ready access to information related to each category (e.g., communications, files, tasks, work product, etc.), which information is automatically and seamlessly synchronized across the platform such that each team member remains abreast of the current progress and status of a project. For instance, cooperation and collaboration are facilitated by features such as inline replies, which enable team members to comment on and reply to specific items within a single synchronized version of a message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 62/165,856, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING UNIFIEDMESSAGING PLATFORM,” filed on May 22, 2015, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/165,880, entitled “UNIFIED MESSAGING PLATFORMAND INTERFACE FOR PROVIDING RICH EMAIL MESSAGES,” filed on May 22, 2015,the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Numerous and diverse communications platforms are currently available.Some communications platforms, e.g., messaging and/or email platforms,allow for a certain amount of interoperability. However, these platformsfail to adequately address the needs and requirements of contemporaryteam environments. For example, traditional email applications areconfigured such that each message is addressed to one or more recipientsby the sender. It is often difficult for the sender to know whichrecipients would be interested in receiving certain information, whichleads to message forwarding and/or overlooking relevant or keyindividuals. In the case of message forwarding, the communication chainbecomes fractured, which results in disparate information being providedto various members of a team. Moreover, when certain members areoverlooked and/or excluded, information that would be useful to thewhole team is archived and acted on by only a subset of the team. Theabove deficiencies are compounded by the fact that email messaging isoverused for too many purposes—e.g., from messages as basic asrequesting approval from the recipient to messages attaching criticalvision documents for an organization—which leads to overloaded inboxesand overwhelmed recipients.

Other communication tools and mediums have been developed to fill thegaps, such as instant messaging, short message service (SMS), Yammer,Skype, SharePoint, etc., but these tools add complexity rather than anoverarching solution. For instance, while these additionalcommunications tools are useful in point solutions, they also create theneed for users to visit multiple locations to obtain a complete pictureof related information, tasks and obligations.

It is with respect to these and other general considerations thatembodiments have been described. Also, although relatively specificproblems have been discussed, it should be understood that theembodiments should not be limited to solving the specific problemsidentified in the background.

SUMMARY

The disclosure generally relates to methods and systems for providing aunified messaging platform. The unified messaging platform provides acomprehensive environment for collaboration, file sharing, and projectmanagement. In aspects, the unified messaging platform is organizedbased on one or more teams or projects, where each team or project isfurther organized by customizable categories. A user interface isprovided for ready access to information related to each category (e.g.,communications, files, tasks, work product, etc.), which information isautomatically and seamlessly synchronized across the platform such thateach team member remains abreast of the current progress and status of aproject. For instance, cooperation and collaboration are facilitated byfeatures such as inline replies, which enable team members to comment onand reply to specific items within a single synchronized version of amessage. These and other features will be detailed and described herein.

In aspects, a system comprising a processing unit and a memory isprovided, the memory storing computer executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processing unit, cause the system toperform a method. The method includes receiving a reply to a message andidentifying a location of the reply within the message. The methodfurther includes determining a presentation structure for displaying thereply within the message and displaying the presentation structure.

In further aspects, a system comprising a processing unit and a memoryis provided, the memory storing computer executable instructions that,when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause the system toperform a method. The method includes receiving a reply to a message,identifying a message structure and identifying a location of the replywithin the message structure. The method further includes determining apresentation structure for displaying the reply within the message,identifying an endpoint associated with a recipient of the reply, andsending the presentation structure to the endpoint.

In still further aspects, a method of determining a presentationstructure for displaying a reply to a message is provided. The methodincludes receiving a message at a first time and displaying the messageamong a plurality of messages in an order based on the first time. Themethod further includes receiving a reply to the message at a secondtime. Additionally, the method includes determining a presentationstructure for displaying the reply and the message, wherein thepresentation structure associates the message and the reply in aconversation thread. The method also includes displaying theconversation thread among the plurality of messages based on the secondtime, wherein the message is reordered among the plurality of messagesbased on the second time.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples are described with reference tothe following Figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary conceptual model for a unified messagingplatform, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a second example embodiment.

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a third example embodiment.

FIG. 2D illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a fourth example embodiment.

FIG. 2E illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a fifth example embodiment.

FIG. 2F illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for interacting withthe unified messaging platform, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2G illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for interacting withthe unified messaging platform, according to a second exampleembodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system implemented on a computing devicefor message handling, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method for handling a user callout in amessage, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary interface for inserting a user calloutin a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary interface for notifying a user of a usercallout in a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7A illustrates an exemplary interface for resolving a user calloutfor inclusion in a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 7B illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for resolving a usercallout for inclusion in a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for handling an inline reply to amessage, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary interface for initiating an inline replyin a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary interface for presenting an inlinereply in a message, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating example physical components of acomputing device with which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are simplified block diagrams of a mobile computingdevice with which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a distributed computing systemin which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

FIG. 14 illustrates a tablet computing device for executing one or moreaspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown byway of illustrations specific embodiments or examples. These aspects maybe combined, other aspects may be utilized, and structural changes maybe made without departing from the present disclosure. Embodiments maybe practiced as methods, systems or devices. Accordingly, embodimentsmay take the form of a hardware implementation, an entirely softwareimplementation, or an implementation combining software and hardwareaspects. The following detailed description is therefore not to be takenin a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

In particular, a unified messaging platform is described which providesa comprehensive environment for collaboration, file sharing, and projectmanagement. In aspects, the unified messaging platform is organizedbased on one or more teams or projects, with each team or projectfurther organized by customizable categories, such as finance,engineering, launch readiness, debugging, catering, construction,general, random, and the like. A user interface is provided for readyaccess to information related to each category (e.g., communications,files, tasks, work product, etc.), which information is organized bypages or tabs for each category. Moreover, documents, project updates,tasks, and communications between team members are automatically andseamlessly synchronized across the platform such that each team memberremains abreast of the current progress and status of a project. Forinstance, the unified messaging platform facilitates collaboration byfeatures such as inline replies, which enable team members to providecomments, updates or replies to specific items, topics, or requestswithin a single synchronized version of a message. It is with respect tothese and other general considerations that embodiments have been made.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for providing a unified messagingplatform, according to an example embodiment.

In aspects, a unified messaging platform (UMP) 105 may be implementedvia a client unified messaging application 104 a executed on clientcomputing device 104 in communication with a server unified messagingapplication executed on a server computing device 106. In some aspects,the client computing device 104 may comprise a client-side object model107 in communication with a server-side object model 109 (e.g.,implemented by middle tier 106 b). In a basic configuration, the clientcomputing device 104 is a personal or handheld computer having bothinput elements and output elements. For example, the client computingdevice 104 may be one of: a mobile telephone; a smart phone; a tablet; aphablet; a smart watch; a wearable computer; a personal computer; adesktop computer; a laptop computer; a gaming device/computer (e.g.,Xbox); a television; and the like. This list is exemplary only andshould not be considered as limiting. Any suitable client computingdevice for executing a messaging application may be utilized.

The unified messaging platform 105 is a communication system/servicethat provides a collaborative environment for users to communicate andcollaborate. The unified messaging platform 105 is shown by a dashedline, illustrating that implementation of the unified messaging platform105 may involve the front end 106 a, middle tier 106 b and/or the backend 106 c of server computing device 106, among other examples. Inaspects, server computing device 106 may include one or more servercomputing devices 106. In an example the unified messaging platform 105presents a configurable and extensible workspace for collaborationbetween users through a user interface (UI) that may comprise aplurality of different views. Users of the unified messaging platform105 may be include but are not limited to: one or more persons,companies, organizations, departments, virtual teams, ad-hoc groups,vendors, customers, third-parties, etc. Users of the unified messagingplatform 105 may have one or more user profiles that are customizable bythe user. The unified messaging platform 105 enables visibility andcommunication between users including users who are organized in teamsor groups as well as users/groups outside of a team/group. Policies maybe set for teams/groups by one or more administrators of a team/groupand by administrators of the unified messaging platform 105. Examplesdescribed throughout the present disclosure are designed to accommodateto protect user privacy. Protection of sensitive information, includinglegally protected data and personally identifiable information, is aparamount consideration for implementing examples described herein. Forinstance, users may set privacy settings for what data that candisplayed/shared, and examples described herein comply with suchsettings as well as laws related to distribution of data and protectionof privacy.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, systems and/or services associated with theunified messaging platform 105 may be implemented as a front end 106 a,a middle tier 106 b, and a back end 106 c on a server computing device106. However, one skilled in the art will recognize that the unifiedmessaging platform 105 may be implemented across one or more componentsof system examples described herein, including one or more clientcomputing devices 104 and/or enterprise stack 110. In some aspects, thefront end 106 a of server computing device 106 may send information andcommands via the client unified messaging application 104 a to theclient computing device 104. For instance, the middle tier 106 b and/orthe back end 106 c of the server computing device 106 may receiveinformation and commands from the client computing device 104 via theclient unified messaging application 104 a. In other aspects, the frontend 106 a may act as an intermediary between the client computing device104 and the middle tier 106 b. That is, front end 106 a may exchangecommands and information with the client computing device 104 and mayalso exchange the commands and information with middle tier 106 b. In anexample, the unified messaging platform 105 includes a server unifiedmessaging application executing on server computing device 106 via frontend 106 a, middle tier 106 b, and a back end 106 c in communication withthe client unified messaging application 104 a.

In some aspects, the back end 106 c may further comprise or be incommunication with one or more application agents 106 d to facilitateinteroperability and communication with one or more external services114. More specifically, application agents 106 d may interface withexternal services 114 using webhooks 106 e in order to facilitateintegration between the unified messaging platform 105 and externalservices 114. External services 114 are services and/or websites thatare hosted or controlled by third parties. For example, externalservices 114 may include line-of-business (LOB) management services,customer relationship management (CRM) services, debugging services,accounting services, payroll services, etc. External services 114 mayfurther include other websites and/or applications hosted by thirdparties, such as social media or networking websites; photo sharingwebsites; video and music streaming websites; search engine websites;sports, news or entertainment websites, and the like. That is, someexternal services 114 may provide robust reporting, analytics, datacompilation and/or storage service, etc., whereas other externalservices 114 may provide search engines or other access to data andinformation, images, videos, and the like.

In aspects, data or information may be shared between server computingdevice 106 and the one or more external services 114. For example,business contacts, sales, etc., may be input via a client computingdevice 104 in communication with server computing device 106, which isin communication with CRM software hosted by a third party. The thirdparty CRM software may track sales activity, marketing, customerinteractions, etc., to provide analytics or other information forpromoting business relations. Alternatively, a manufacturing work ordermay be input via a client computing device 104 in communication withserver computing device 106, which is in communication with LOBmanagement software hosted by a third party. The LOB management softwaremay guide and track the work order by creating work flows such as tasksor alerts for scheduling manufacturing equipment, ordering rawmaterials, scheduling shipping, relieving inventory, etc. In some cases,the LOB management software may create requests for user approval orreview at different stages of a work flow. In still further aspects, auser may issue a query to one or more of the external services 114, suchas a request for business contacts, sales for the prior month, thestatus of a work order, or a search query or request for an image, etc.

As illustrated by FIG. 1, the server computing device 106 maycommunicate with external services 114 and client computing device 104via a network 108. In one aspect, the network 108 is a distributedcomputing network, such as the Internet. In aspects, the unifiedmessaging platform 105 may be implemented on more than one servercomputing device 106, such as a plurality of server computing devices106. As discussed above, the server computing device 106 may providedata to and from the client computing device 104 through the network108. The data may be communicated over any network suitable to transmitdata. In some aspects, the network 108 is a computer network such as anenterprise intranet and/or the Internet. In this regard, the network 108may include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), theInternet, wireless and wired transmission mediums. In further aspects,server computing device 106 may communicate with some components of thesystem via a local network (e.g., an enterprise intranet), whereasserver computing device 106 may communicate with other components of thesystem via a wide area network (e.g., the Internet).

According to further aspects, communication between the unifiedmessaging platform 105 and other components of the system may requireauthentication 112. Authentication 112 refers to a process by which adevice, application, component, user, etc., provides proof that it is“authentic” or that it is “authorized” to access or communicate withanother device, application, component, user, etc. Authentication mayinvolve the use of third party digital certificates, authenticationtokens, passwords, symmetric or asymmetric key encryption schemes,shared secrets, authentication protocols, or any other suitableauthentication system or method either now known or developed in thefuture. In aspects, in response to authentication, access orcommunication may be allowed and data or information may be exchangedbetween the unified messaging platform 105 and various other componentsof the system. In some aspects, an environment or network linkingvarious devices, applications, components, users, etc., may be referredto as a “trusted” environment. In a trusted environment, authenticationbetween devices, applications, components, users, etc., may not benecessary.

The unified messaging platform 105 executing operations on the servercomputing device 106 may further be in communication with one or moreenterprise applications (e.g., enterprise stack 110). Enterprise stack110 may include, for example, an active directory 110 a, an enterprisemessaging application 110 b, a file sharing application 110 c, atelemetry application 110 d, and the like. The enterprise stack 110 maybe stored and/or executed locally, e.g., within an enterprise intranet,or in distributed locations over the Internet. In some cases, enterprisestack 110 may be included within server computing device 106. Forexample, active directory 110 a may be included as part of back end 106c of server computing device 106. In some instances, enterprise stack110 may reside or communicate with the unified messaging platform 105within a trusted environment. In aspects, information and/or messagesreceived, sent or stored via the unified messaging platform 105 may becommunicated to the enterprise stack 110. Moreover, information and/ormessages received, sent or stored via the enterprise stack 110 may becommunicated to the unified messaging platform 105.

Additionally, in some aspects, the unified messaging platform 105executing on the server computing device 106 may be in communicationwith one or more third party messaging applications 116. Third partymessaging applications 116 are messaging applications that are hosted orcontrolled by third parties, including third party email messagingapplications, SMS applications, instant messaging applications, socialnetworking applications, and the like. In aspects, some users who aremembers of a team may be registered with the unified messaging platform105 (e.g., internal users), whereas other users who are members of theteam may not be registered with the unified messaging platform 105(e.g., external users) but may be registered with one or more thirdparty messaging applications 116. In some aspects, users who areregistered with an enterprise messaging application 110 b, but not withthe unified messaging platform 105, are considered external users. Inthis case, the unified messaging platform 105 may communicate with oneor more third party messaging applications 116 and/or with one or moreenterprise messaging applications 110 b to exchange information andmessages with external users. In some aspects, communication between theunified messaging platform 105 and the one or more third party messagingapplications 116 and/or the one or more enterprise messagingapplications 110 b over network 108 may involve authentication 112. Inother aspects, communication between the unified messaging platform 105and, for example, the one or more enterprise messaging applications 110b, may not involve authentication 112.

As should be appreciated, the various devices, components, etc.,described with respect to FIG. 1 are not intended to limit the systemsand methods to the particular components described. Accordingly,additional topology configurations may be used to practice the methodsand systems herein and/or some components described may be excludedwithout departing from the methods and systems disclosed herein.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a first example embodiment.

In aspects, a user may interact with a unified messaging platform via auser interface 200, e.g., a graphical user interface. An exemplaryunified messaging platform 105 is provided in the description of FIG. 1,and further described throughout the rest of the present disclosure suchas in FIGS. 2A-2G, among other examples. In some aspects, the userinterface 200 may involve one or more panes or windows for organizingthe display of information and/or interactive controls. In one example,the user interface 200 may include three panes, e.g., a left rail 202, acenter pane 204, and a right rail 206. In another example, the userinterface 200 may include two panes, e.g., a left rail and a right rail.In still other examples, the user interface 200 may include one pane,four or more panes, and/or panes may be embodied in multiple browser orapplication windows.

As detailed above, each pane or window may display information in theform of text, graphics, etc., and/or one or more interactive controls orlinks. For example, a first pane, e.g., left rail 202, may display oneor more teams 208, an email portal, etc. As used herein, a team refersto any group of two or more users formed for one or more purposes. Ateam may be formed for any conceivable purpose or purposes, e.g., abusiness purpose, a social purpose, a charitable purpose, and the like.Moreover, a team may comprise any type of user, e.g., co-workers, familymembers, classmates, business associates, and the like. In aspects, ateam may be formed within the unified messaging platform 105 by creatinga team title, e.g., leadership team, design team, event team, projectteam, etc., and adding users (e.g., members) to the team. For example,in a settings or administration pane (not shown), members may be addedto the team by selecting an identifier of a user, e.g., a user icon, auser email, a user phone number, etc. In at least some aspects, eachmember of a team is granted access to a team portal or channel.Furthermore, any number of teams may be created within the unifiedmessaging platform 105 and/or teams may be implicitly created based oncommunications between two or more users.

A team portal may provide access to all communications, files, links,lists, hashtags, development tools, etc., shared by any member of ateam. According to embodiments, in response to a selection (e.g., byclicking) of a team 208 within a pane, e.g., the left rail 202, a teamportal may be opened. A team portal refers to an access point throughwhich team members can view and interact with shared information andother team members. In at least some cases, each member of a team isgranted full access to the information and conversations shared withinthe team portal. In aspects, in response to a selection of a team 208,general information regarding the team, project specifications, etc.,may be displayed in a second pane, e.g., center pane 204. For example,member names, member contact information (e.g., email addresses, phonenumbers, etc.), member usage time, project specifications, project timelines, project mission, and the like, may be displayed in the centerpane 204.

A team portal may be further organized based on customizable categories210 of information for a team 208. For example, any suitable category210 for organizing team information may be created for a team portal,e.g., finance, engineering, launch readiness, debugging, catering,construction, general, random, and the like. In aspects, informationrelated to a category 210 may be displayed in center pane 204 inresponse to selecting a category 210 of a team 208 within left rail 202.In some instances, each member of a team is granted full access toinformation associated with each category 210 of a team 208 within theteam portal.

As noted above, a team portal may provide access to all communications,files, links, lists, hashtags, etc., shared by members of a team 208. Inaspects, within each category 210, information may further be organizedby tabs or pages. For example, each tab 212 may display a different typeof information associated with a category 210 in the center pane 204.When selected, a tab 212 may be identified by highlighting, with adifferent font or font color, by outlining, underlining, etc. Asillustrated by FIG. 2A, in response to selection of a first tab (e.g.,conversations tab 212 a, denoted by underlining), communications 218between team members may be displayed in center pane 204. As usedherein, the term “communication” may be used interchangeably with theterm “message.” In aspects, a conversation 216 entails two or morecommunications 218 of any type or mode between team members. In somecases, a conversation 216 may be displayed in ascending order with themost recent communication 218 displayed at the bottom of the center pane204. Alternatively, a conversation 216 may be displayed in descendingorder with the most recent communication 218 displayed at the top of thecenter pane 204.

In some cases, described further below, one or more communications 218(e.g., communications 218 a and 218 b) may be grouped as a conversationthread 220. A communication 218 refers to a single message transmittedby a team member in any format (e.g., email, SMS, instant message, etc.)via any mode (e.g., via the unified messaging platform, or via anyenterprise or third party messaging application). That is, messages maybe generated within the unified messaging platform between internalusers or messages may be communicated to and from external users viaenterprise messaging applications (e.g., enterprise messagingapplication 110 b) and/or third party messaging applications (e.g.,third party messaging applications 116).

As provided above, each pane or window may display information and/orinteractive controls. For example, a third pane, i.e., right rail 206,may display context information, status information, recent activity,and the like. In some aspects, information displayed in the right rail206 may be related to or associated with the category 210 selected inthe left rail 202 and/or the tab 212 selected in the center pane. Forinstance, where the center pane 204 displays communications, files,links, lists, hashtags, etc., related to a category 210 a entitled “NewProduct Launch,” the right rail 206 may display one or more recent files222, recent links 224, tags 226, or active people 228 related to the NewProduct Launch. In some aspects, at least some of the informationdisplayed in the right rail 206 may be specific to a particular user(e.g., the particular user accessing the team portal via a clientcomputing device 104, “accessing user”). For example, the particularuser accessing the team portal may be identified by a name, icon, or thelike, within right rail 206, such as user name 230 a or user icon 230 b.That is, in some cases, the recent files 222 and/or recent links 224related to the New Product Launch may have been recently accessed oruploaded by the accessing user. Moreover, the right rail 206 displayedfor another user accessing the same category 210 may display a differentset of recent files 222 or recent links 224. In further examples,additional or different information relevant to a category 210 and aparticular user may be displayed in the right rail 206, e.g., usertasks, user alerts, user calendar, user notes, etc.

According to additional aspects, center pane 204 may include a searchfield 240. For example, search field 240 may allow a user to searchwithin a team portal for any communication, file, link, list, hashtag,term, team member, calendar, task, event, and the like, related to ateam 208. In aspects, search field 240 may allow for plain languagesearching, Boolean searching (e.g., searching using Boolean operators),or otherwise. In response to entering one or more search terms into thesearch field 240, any information related to the search terms within theteam portal may be displayed as search results to the accessing user.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 200 described with respect to FIG. 2A are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a second example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 200 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 202, a centerpane 204, and a right rail 206. As illustrated by FIG. 2B, the unifiedmessaging platform may provide a variety of options for generatingcommunications. For example, the unified messaging platform may providea new message input field, e.g., new message input field 232, forsending an instant message, SMS, or other “text-like” communication. Inaspects, new message input field 232 may allow entry of text, entry ofcommands, entry of user callouts, entry of hashtags, entry of images,entry of rich web content, entry of rich interactive content, etc. Newmessage input field 232 may further include controls 268 for attachingfiles, inserting emoticons, etc. However, in at least some aspects, newmessage input field 232 may not provide for entry of recipients or asubject line. In response to inputting a message into a new messageinput field 232 and hitting “send” or “enter,” a communication from auser may automatically post to a conversation as a new “text-like”message. According to further aspects, new message input field 232 mayinclude optional controls 266 (denoted as an ellipsis) for expanding thenew message input field 232 into an email interface object (e.g., emailinterface object 238 described below).

Alternatively, the unified messaging platform may provide a reply link234 associated with each communication of a conversation. In someaspects, reply link 234 is displayed near each communication of aconversation, e.g., to the right of a sender or subject line for acommunication (not shown), indented below a communication (shown), upand to the right of a communication (not shown), and the like.Alternatively, reply link 234 may not be displayed unless and until acommunication is clicked, hovered over, touched or otherwise identifiedwith an input device (e.g., mouse, pointer, etc.). In response todisplay and selection of a reply link 234 associated with a particularcommunication, a message reply input field may be displayed (not shown).Similar to the new message input field 232, the message reply inputfield may allow entry of text, entry of commands, entry of hashtags,attachment of files, insertion of emoticons, etc. However, in this case,in response to inputting a message and hitting “send” or “enter,” acommunication from the user may automatically post within a conversationthread 220 associated with the particular communication. In aspects, asillustrated by FIG. 2A, secondary communications 218 b within aconversation thread 220 may be displayed as indented, bulleted, orotherwise offset below a primary or initial communication 218 a (inabove example, the “particular communication” may be referred to as a“primary communication”).

Alternatively still, the unified messaging platform may provide an emailcontrol 236 for accessing an email interface object, e.g., emailinterface object 238, to send “email-like” communications. In aspects,email interface object 238 may allow similar actions to new messageinput field 232, such as an input field 276 for entry of text, entry ofcommands, entry of hashtags, etc., and controls 268 for attachment offiles, insertion of emoticons, etc. Additionally, email interface object238 may provide controls 278 for altering text font and size, bulletingtext, etc., and controls 270 for sending, saving a draft email,deleting, etc. Email interface object 238 may further provide arecipient field 272 for inputting or selecting recipients and a subjectfield 274 for inputting a subject line, and the like. In response toinputting a message into an email interface object 238 and hitting“send” or “enter,” a communication from the user may automatically postto the conversation as a new “email-like” message.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 200 described with respect to FIG. 2B are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a third example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 200 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 202, a centerpane 204, and a right rail 206. Moreover, as described above, each tab212 may display a different type of information associated with acategory 210 a in the center pane 204. For example, as illustrated byFIG. 2C, a second tab (e.g., files tab 212 b) may be selected (denotedby underlining) to display files 242 shared between team members. Files242 may include any type of file, e.g., document files, spreadsheetfiles, presentation files, image files, video files, audio files, notefiles, and the like.

In some aspects, files 242 displayed in files tab 212 b include filesthat were sent as attachments to communications 218 between teammembers. That is, the unified messaging application may extract filessent as attachments and automatically save them in files tab 212 b. Inother aspects, as illustrated by FIG. 2C, a file upload field 244 may beprovided. In response to selecting file upload field 244, one or morefiles 242 may be saved to the files tab 212 b by a user. For example, inresponse to selection of file upload field 244, a browsing box (notshown) may be activated for retrieving a file for upload. Alternatively,a command may be entered (e.g., “/file”) for retrieving a file forupload. Alternatively still, a file may be copied and pasted into fileupload field 244. In aspects, any suitable method for uploading andsaving a file to the files tab 212 b may be implemented. In at leastsome aspects, a single version of a first file with a first file nameexists in files tab 212 b such that any revisions, edits, annotations,etc., made to the first file are synchronized and stored within thesingle version. In some aspects, in response to saving the first filewith a second file name, a second file can be created, attached, and/oruploaded to files tab 212 b.

According to further examples, a third tab (e.g., links tab 212 c) maydisplay links (e.g., hyperlinks) shared between team members. In someaspects, links displayed in the links tab 212 c include links that weresent within the body of a communication or as attachments to acommunication between team members. That is, the unified messagingapplication may extract links sent within or as attachments tocommunications and may automatically save them to the links tab 212 c.In other aspects, a link upload field (not shown) may be provided. Inresponse to selecting the link upload field, one or more links may besaved to the links tab 212 c by a user. For example, in response toselection of a link upload field, a browsing box (not shown) may beactivated for retrieving a link for upload. Alternatively, a command maybe entered (e.g., “/link”) for retrieving a link for upload.Alternatively still, a link may be copied and pasted into the linkupload field. In aspects, any suitable method for uploading and saving alink to the links tab 212 c may be implemented.

A fourth tab (e.g., lists tab 212 d) may display list objects and/orother information, data, files, images, etc., shared between teammembers. In aspects, list objects may include lists, tables, charts, orother organized forms of data. In some aspects, list objects displayedin lists tab 212 d include list objects that were sent within the bodyof a communication 218 or as an attachment to a communication 218between team members. That is, the unified messaging application mayextract list objects sent as attachments or within a message body andautomatically save them to lists tab 212 d. As used herein, a messagebody refers to content displayed within a communication (e.g., excludingrecipient, sender, time stamp, subject information, confidentialitydisclaimer, etc.) that need not be activated or opened for viewing.

In other aspects, a list object may be created or uploaded by a userwithin lists tab 212 d. For example, a list creation control (not shown)may be provided for creating a list object. In some cases, in responseto selecting the list creation control, a list object may be created andinserted in a message body and/or attached to a message. In response tocreating the list object, the list object may be automatically saved tothe lists tab 212 d. Alternatively, a list upload field (not shown) maybe provided. In response to selecting a list upload field, one or morelist objects may be selected, uploaded and saved to the lists tab 212 dby a user, as described similarly above. In at least some cases, asingle copy of each list object may exist such that if data is updatedin any view, e.g., within the communications tab 212 a or the lists tab212 d, the list object is automatically updated and synchronized acrossall other views.

According to aspects, any number of tabs 212 may be created fororganizing and sequestering various forms of information related to acategory 210 a. For example, a hashtag tab may be included to storevarious hashtags created within communications between team members. Inadditional examples, custom or extensibility tabs may be created, e.g.,a tab for a spreadsheet dashboard, a tab for a webpage, a tab for acustom application, a tab for a system plugin, and the like.

In further aspects, additional interactive controls or links (e.g.,controls 246) may be provided, e.g., in left rail 202, for quickly andeasily accessing communications, files, lists, links, tags, etc.,related to a team 208. For example, people control 246 a may access teammembers and/or conversations stored in the team portal, files control246 b may access files stored in the team portal, lists control 246 cmay access lists stored in the team portal, links control 246 d mayaccess links stored in the team portal, and hashtags control 246 e mayaccess hashtags stored in the team portal. In some aspects, selection ofa control 246 may display a corresponding tab view within the centerpane 204. In other aspects, selection of a control 246 may displayresults for all categories within a team portal, e.g., in the form ofsearch results associated with a particular control 246.

As illustrated by FIG. 2C, in response to selection of a files tab 212b, the right rail 206 may display different information than when adifferent tab 212 is viewed in center pane 204. For example, selectingor highlighting a file 242 a in center pane 204 may cause informationrelated to file 242 a to be displayed in the right rail 206. Forinstance, a file history 262 for the file 242 a may be displayed in theright rail 206. The file history 262 may include information such as auser identifier for a user who uploaded the file 242 a, a user whoauthored the file 242 a, a user who edited the file 242 a, a filecreation date, a file revision date, and the like. The right rail 206may further display recent comments 264 regarding file 242 a. Inaspects, any information related to file 242 a may be displayed in rightrail 206.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 200 described with respect to FIG. 2C are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2D illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a fourth example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 200 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 202, a centerpane 204, and a right rail 206. In further aspects, the left rail 202may include an email portal 214. Unlike a team portal, email portal 214may be an access point through which a particular user can view andinteract with his or her email messages inside or outside of the contextof a team. In aspects, in response to selection of email portal 214, asecond pane, e.g., center pane 204, may display a user's email messages.Center pane 204 may further display a user identifier 248 as a header,e.g., a user email address, a user name, a user icon, and the like.Center pane 204 may provide one or more tabs 250 for organizing theuser's email messages. Tabs 250 may include, for instance, an inbox tab250 a, a files tab 250 b, a links tab 250 c, a sent tab 250 d, a draftstab 250 e, a deleted tab 250 f, and the like. For example, a user'sinbox of messages may be displayed in the center pane 204 in response toselection of inbox tab 250 a (denoted by underlining). In some aspects,the user's inbox of messages may include all messages sent to the user,e.g., messages between team members, including internal and externalusers, as well as messages between entities and users that are not teammembers.

In some aspects, the user's email messages 280 in inbox tab 250 a may bedisplayed in a summary list format (shown) in descending order based ona date the email message was received with the most recent email messagedisplayed at the top of center pane 204. The summary list format maydisplay a portion of each email message, e.g., a sender, a subject line,and a portion of text for each email message.

In alternative aspects, the user's email messages in inbox tab 250 a maybe displayed in a conversation thread format (not shown). A conversationthread format (e.g., presentation structure) may display email messageswhich are replies to a primary email message below the primary emailmessage, and/or indented, bulleted, or otherwise offset within theconversation thread. Additionally or alternatively, a reply to a primaryemail message may be displayed in a different font (e.g., bold, italics,colored, etc.), may be displayed in a reply bubble within theconversation thread, and the like. In at least some aspects, eachconversation thread may be displayed in descending order based on a datethe last email message in the conversation thread was received, with themost recent conversation thread displayed at the top of center pane 204.In this case, individual communications (e.g., communications that havenot been replied to) may be interspersed among and between conversationthreads in descending order based on a date the individual communicationwas received. In other aspects, each conversation thread may bedisplayed in ascending order based on a date the last email message inthe conversation thread was received with the most recent conversationthread displayed at the bottom of center pane 204. In this case,individual communications may be interspersed among and betweenconversation threads in ascending order based on a date the individualcommunication was received.

For example, a message (e.g., primary communication) received at a firsttime may be displayed in an ascending or descending order within aconversation based on the first time. When a reply to the message (e.g.,secondary communication) is received at a second time, the message andthe reply may be displayed as a conversation thread, as described above.Moreover, the conversation thread may be displayed in an ascending ordescending order within the conversation based on the second time. Inthis case, the message (as displayed in the conversation thread) may bereordered within the conversation based on a time of receipt of thereply, e.g., the second time. In further aspects, as described above,the reply to the message may be received from a user registered with theunified messaging application, or from a user registered with a thirdparty messaging application, including third party email messagingapplications, SMS applications, instant messaging applications, socialnetworking applications, and the like.

In further aspects, email messages that have been opened or viewed maybe displayed within the in inbox tab 250 a of center pane 204 withnormal text, whereas email messages that have not been opened or viewedmay be displayed within the center pane 204 with at least portions ofthe email message in bold text (e.g., a sender and/or a subject line maybe displayed with bold text).

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 200 described with respect to FIG. 2D are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2E illustrates an exemplary interface for interacting with theunified messaging platform, according to a fifth example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 200 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 202, a centerpane 204, and a right rail 206. As described above, in response toselection of email portal 214, center pane 204 may display a user'semail messages. In some aspects, as illustrated by FIG. 2E, a user'semail messages may be organized based on conversations 252 between oneor more users. For example, as shown in left rail 202, a conversation252 a between a first user and a second user (e.g., Rachel) may bedisplayed separately from a conversation 252 b between the first user, athird user (e.g., Rob) and fourth user (e.g., Sofia).

In aspects, by selecting a conversation 252 displayed in the left rail202, communications between the one or more users may be displayed incenter pane 204. As illustrated in FIG. 2E, conversation 252 c has beenselected and the communications 254 between the first user and thesecond user (e.g., Rachel), the third user (e.g., Rob), a fifth user(e.g., Jim), and a sixth user (e.g., Sophia) are displayed in centerpane 204. In this example, the first user refers to the accessing user(e.g., Ping Li) identified by user name 256 a and user icon 256 b.

In aspects, communications 254 of conversation 252 c may be displayed indescending order based on a date each communication 254 was receivedwith the most recent communication 254 displayed at the top of centerpane 204. In other aspects, communications 254 of conversation 252 c maybe displayed in ascending order based on a date each communication 254was received with the most recent communication 254 displayed at thebottom of center pane 204.

In further aspects, information related to conversation 252 c may beorganized by tabs or pages. For example, each tab 258 may display adifferent type of information associated with conversation 252 c in thecenter pane 204. When selected, a tab 258 may be identified byhighlighting, with a different font or font color, by outlining,underlining, and the like. As illustrated by FIG. 2E, a first tab (e.g.,conversation tab 258 a) may display the communications 254 between thefirst user, second user, third user, fifth user and sixth user.Additional tabs, described in further detail above, may include a secondtab (e.g., files tab 258 b), a third tab (e.g., links tab 258 c), afourth tab (e.g., lists tab 258 d), and the like, for displaying files,links, lists, etc., shared between participants in the conversation 252c. For example, as illustrated by FIG. 2E, a list object 260 wasinserted in communication 254 a from the second user (e.g., Rachel). Inaspects, as described above, the list object 260 may be accessed fromthe conversation tab 258 a or from the lists tab 258 d.

As illustrated by FIG. 2E, when viewing a conversation 252 c between thefirst user, second user, third user, fifth user and sixth user, theright rail 206 may display information associated with the conversation252 c and/or the users participating in the conversation 252 c. Forexample, the right rail 206 may display group availability 282 for theusers participating in the conversation 252 c. The right rail 206 mayfurther display common meetings 284 between the users participating inthe conversation 252 c. In aspects, any information related toconversation 252 c and/or the participating users may be displayed inright rail 206.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 200 described with respect to FIG. 2E are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2F illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for interacting withthe unified messaging platform, according to an example embodiment.

In aspects, a version of the unified messaging platform may provide auser interface 285 for mobile devices. The mobile user interface 285 mayprovide one or more panes or windows for viewing communications, files,lists, links, etc., associated with one or more teams of which a user isa member. In some aspects, a second pane may be displayed (e.g., secondpane 288) in response to swiping a first pane (e.g., first pane 286) ina left-to-right direction or a right-to-left direction.

As illustrated, first pane 286 displays one or more teams (e.g., team287) and one or more categories (e.g., categories 291). In aspects, anotification (e.g., notification 292) may be displayed near a category(e.g., category 291 a) when a new communication, file, list, hyperlink,etc., has been received within the category 291. As further illustrated,second pane 288 displays one or more communications 289 (e.g.,communications 289 a and 289 b), which are each associated with a sender(e.g., senders 290 a and 290 b).

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 285 described with respect to FIG. 2F are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 2G illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for interacting withthe unified messaging platform, according to a second exampleembodiment.

As described above, mobile user interface 285 may allow a user to view aconversation (e.g., conversation 293) in a conversation pane (e.g.,conversation pane 294). The mobile user interface 285 may furtherprovide a new message input field 295 and an input interface 296 forinputting and sending communications to participants of the conversation293. In aspects, when a communication is sent to the participants of anongoing conversation (e.g., conversation 293), new message input field295 does not require recipient information but may provide a subjectinput field, e.g., subject input field 297, for inputting a subject ofthe communication, e.g., “New UX.” In some aspects, new message inputfield 295 may be similar to an instant, chat, SMS, or similar messaginginterface. In other aspects, new message input field 295 may providefunctionality similar to an email messaging interface (e.g., allowingfor attaching documents, list objects, images, etc.). As illustrated, acommunication 298 has been partially input into new message input field295.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 285 described with respect to FIG. 2G are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system implemented on a computing devicefor message handling, according to an example embodiment.

In aspects, a client computing device 304 may implement a unifiedmessaging application. In some aspects, client computing device 304 mayimplement a client application 310 for interfacing with unifiedmessaging application 312 implemented on a server computing device 308.In a basic configuration, the client computing device 304 may bedescribed similarly to client computing device 104. However, anysuitable client computing device for implementing a unified messagingapplication 312, or client application 310 of such application, may beutilized.

In aspects, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the unified messaging application312 may be implemented on a server computing device 308. In a basicconfiguration, the server computing device 308 may be describedsimilarly to server computing device 106. The server computing device308 may provide data to and from the client computing device 304 througha network 306, where network 306 is described similarly to network 108.In further aspects, the unified messaging application 312 may beimplemented on more than one server computing device 308, such as aplurality of server computing devices 308. As discussed above, theserver computing device 308 may provide data to and from the clientcomputing device 304 through the network 306. In some cases, a textualor voice input may be received at the client computing device 304 andtransmitted over the network 306 for processing by unified messagingapplication 312 at the server computing device 308.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the unified messaging application 312 mayinclude a scan component 314, a context component 316, a transformcomponent 318, a presentation component 320 and a notification component322. The various components may be implemented using hardware, software,or a combination of hardware and software. The unified messagingapplication 312 may be configured to receive and process textual and/orvoice input messages. In one example, a textual and/or voice input mayinclude phrases, words, and/or terms in the form of a textual and/orspoken language input (e.g., a user text or voice message). In thisregard, the unified messaging application 312 may be configured toreceive the textual and/or spoken language input from user 302. Inaspects, the unified messaging application 312 may be configured toconvert spoken language input into a textual communication between teammembers. For example, the unified messaging application 312 may includestandard speech recognition techniques known to those skilled in the artsuch as “automatic speech recognition” (ASR), “computer speechrecognition”, and “speech to text” (STT). In some cases, the unifiedmessaging application 312 may include standard text to speech techniquesknown to those skilled in the art such as “text to speech” (TTS).

As illustrated by FIG. 3, the client computing device 304 and the servercomputing device 308 may further be in communication with storage 324that stores parameters, configuration information, communications,images, documents, list objects, or any other information accessed byunified messaging application 312. Storage 324 may be a local or remotedatabase, within an enterprise intranet, or in distributed locationsover the Internet. In aspects, storage 324 may include a plurality oftextual files, including formatted, markup or plain text in any fileformat such as digital word processing documents, spreadsheets,presentations, webpages, text messages, tweets, email messages, and thelike.

In aspects, the scan component 314 may scan messages for embeddedcontent, hyperlinks, textual or graphical content, image content, videocontent, attached documents, command lines, user callouts, and the like.Scan component 314 may implement any suitable technique for scanningmessages, including common techniques presently known or techniquesdeveloped in the future. Traditionally, a common approach to extractstructured data from a document uses a “wrapper” that relies on thestructure of the document to extract specific pieces of information.Recent advances in extraction techniques rely on semi-structuredinformation extraction from HTML pages, natural language processing(NLP) techniques such as speech taggers, and semantic tagging andshallow parsing to build relationships between various components withina sentence. These approaches utilize recognizable keywords to identifyspecific relationships or patterns, e.g., in HTML DOM trees, and aremore resilient to changes in the structure of the document. In aspects,any of the techniques described above, or any other technique presentlyknown or developed in the future, may be implemented by scan component314 to scan messages. In some cases, in response to determining astructure of the content, scan component 314 may assign identifiers tovarious portions of the structure of content (e.g., a hierarchicalstructure) and may further anchor content within the structure by anysuitable means.

Additionally, context component 316 may evaluate each message for acontext. Context refers to any feature, condition or circumstance thatis related to the message. For instance, context can relate to a type ofclient computing device 304 that the message originated from and/or willbe routed to, a type of messaging application the message originatedfrom and/or will be routed to, textual queues regarding a userintention, global positioning system (GPS) data associated with themessage or its sender, a time of day, a time zone for a sender and/or arecipient of a message, etc. In some cases, in response to determining acontext of the message, context component 316 (rather than scancomponent 314) may assign identifiers to various portions of thestructure of content and may further anchor content within the structureby any suitable means.

Additionally, when a receiving application is not the unified messagingapplication 312 or the client application 310, transform component 318may transform each message into a format and/or representationunderstood or readable by the receiving application, e.g., a third partymessaging application, an enterprise messaging application, an externalservices application, a third party website, and the like.

In further aspects, a presentation component 320 may display, render,present, or transmit the message in a format and/or representationunderstood or readable by unified messaging application 312, a thirdparty messaging application, an enterprise messaging application, anexternal services application, a third party website, and the like.

Notification component 322 may further notify user 302, or another user,via the unified messaging application 312, a third party email messagingapplication, an enterprise messaging application, an SMS application, asocial networking application, or any other application suitable formaking notifications to a user. Such notifications may includenotifications that the user was identified in a user callout, that theuser received a message, that the user was assigned a task, that adocument or file was edited, that a document or file was uploaded, andthe like.

According to further aspects, the client computing device 304 and/orserver computing device 308 may be in communication with a third partycomputing device 326. Third party computing device 326 may be describedsimilarly to server computing device 106 or server computing device 308.In aspects, third party computing device 326 may host one or more thirdparty messaging applications, external services, third party websites,etc. In at least some aspects, authentication (e.g., authentication 112)may be required to access third party computing device 326.

As should be appreciated, the various devices, components, etc.,described with respect to FIG. 3 are not intended to limit the systemsand methods to the particular components described. Accordingly,additional topology configurations may be used to practice the methodsand systems herein and/or some components described may be excludedwithout departing from the methods and systems disclosed herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method for handling a user callout in amessage, according to an example embodiment.

Method 400 begins with receive operation 402, where a message isreceived by a unified messaging application. The message may be of anytype or format, including an email message, voice message, SMS message,instant message, and the like. As used herein, content of a “body” ofthe message (e.g., “message body”) refers to content of the messageexclusive of attachments, metadata, time stamp, date, subject line,recipient field, sender field, signature block, confidentialitydisclaimer, etc. Alternatively, content of the “message” refers to allcontent of the message inclusive of attachments, metadata, time stamp,date, subject line, recipient field, sender field, signature block,confidentiality disclaimer, etc. In some cases, the message may bereceived from a sender at a second endpoint who is registered with oneor more of the unified messaging application, an enterprise messagingapplication, a third party email messaging application, an SMS messagingapplication associated with a cellular service plan, an instantmessaging application, or otherwise. In other cases, the message may bereceived as input by an “accessing user” at a first endpoint, where theaccessing user inputs content into a new message input field, an emailinterface object, a message reply input field, etc., associated with theunified messaging application.

At scan operation 404, content of the message or the message body may bescanned. In aspects, the message body may be scanned for textualcontent, image content, video content, audio content, commands, usercallouts, hashtags, hyperlinks, and the like. Alternatively, the messagemay be scanned for attachments, sender information, recipientinformation, subject information, time or date stamp information,metadata, and the like. For instance, any suitable technique forscanning messages, including common techniques presently known ortechniques developed in the future, may be employed. Structured data maybe identified and/or extracted using a “wrapper,” semi-structuredinformation such as HTML may be identified and/or extracted, naturallanguage processing (NLP) techniques may be used to build relationshipsbetween various components within textual content, image and/or videodetection techniques may be used, etc. By way of further example, scanoperation may identify certain words, phrases, characters and/or symbolswithin the textual content of a message that correspond to or areassociated with operations, commands, actions, or are otherwiseunderstood by the unified messaging application.

In some cases, particular characters, symbols, or combinations thereof,within textual content of a message may be recognized by scan operation,e.g., @, @!, #, ##, /, //, !, !!, *, and the like. For instance, an “@”symbol as the first character of a word may indicate a user callout, a“/” symbol as the first character of a word may indicate a command line,a “//” symbol within or as the first character of a word may indicate ahyperlink, a “#” symbol as the first character of a word may indicate ahashtag, etc. In particular, an “@” symbol followed by a user identifiermay correspond to a user callout, e.g., @Tom, @tom.gmail.com, @TomKent,etc. Additionally, a user callout may be recognized when a useridentifier is added to a task list object (e.g., task user callout), orwhen a user identifier is added to a semantic object, such as an expensereport approval object, a voting object, etc. (e.g., an approval usercallout, a vote user callout, etc.). In additional aspects, an urgentuser callout may be recognized based on identification of multiplesymbols followed by a user identifier, e.g., a combination of “@!” or“!@” symbols, or based on other indicators of urgency, e.g., “highimportance” flag.

At identify context operation 406, a context associated with the messagemay be identified. For example, identifying context may includeidentifying presence of a user associated with a user callout (e.g.,whether the user is a participant in a conversation associated with themessage, whether the user is active or inactive on an endpoint, and thelike); identifying a location of an endpoint for a sender of themessage, a recipient of the message, and/or a user associated with auser callout; identifying whether a message is urgent or not;identifying whether the message is a communication within a conversationthread; and the like.

At determine notification operation 408, a notification type may bedetermined based on one or more factors. For instance, the notificationtype may be determined based on message content, message context and/ora type of user callout (e.g., a vote user callout, an approve usercallout, an invite user callout, a urgent user callout, etc.). Inaspects, determining a notification type may determine handling for thenotification.

For example, if message content and/or message context indicates urgency(e.g., @Tom, I need the financials STAT for the meeting in 10 min!), orif an urgent user callout is recognized (e.g., @!Tom, @Tom!, and thelike), an urgent notification may be determined. In aspects, an urgentnotification may comprise a notification sent to a plurality ofendpoints associated with the user, a notification sent to a pluralityof messaging applications associated with the user (e.g., an enterprisemessaging application, a third party email messaging application, an SMSor text application, an instant messaging or chat application, a socialnetworking application, or any combination thereof, etc.), anotification that “light ups” a user interface or display (e.g., bypowering on the display, by causing the display to flash, by causing ared display background, and the like), and/or a notification thatincludes audio or other alert, and the like.

Alternatively, a task user callout may be determined when a useridentifier has been added to a task list object. For a task usercallout, a notification may be sent to one or more messagingapplications associated with the user (e.g., an enterprise messagingapplication, a third party email messaging application, an SMS or textapplication, an instant messaging or chat application, a socialnetworking application, or any combination thereof, etc.), thenotification may be sent to one or more task or calendaring applicationsassociated with the user, the notification may cause the task to beadded to a user's task list and/or calendar, and the like.

In other aspects, determine notification operation 408 may determinecontent of a notification based on one or more factors. In some cases,the content of the notification may simply include a notice that theuser was mentioned in a conversation. In this case, the content of asimple notification may merely include textual content (e.g., thenotice). On the other hand, the content of a complex notification mayinclude textual content (e.g., notice) along with additional datarelated to the message (e.g., controls, links, code, images, etc.). Forinstance, the additional data may include controls for performing anactivity (e.g., approving, rejecting, voting, etc.), links to otherapplications or content (e.g., a link to a LOB website, a link to a CRMwebsite, a link to a conversation thread, etc.), code for performing anaction (e.g., code for adding a task to a user's task list and/orcalendar; code for causing behaviors on an endpoint such as lighting upa user interface, triggering audio alerts, triggering visual alerts,etc.), images (e.g., static reproductions of communications, staticreproductions of list or semantic objects which are not compatible withan endpoint, etc.), and the like.

By way of a first example, e.g., for an approval user callout, thecontent of the notification may include a notice indicating that theuser's approval for an item (e.g., an expense report, financial report,work order, change order, and the like) is requested, and may furtherinclude one or more controls for acting on the item (e.g., forapproving, rejecting, reviewing details, and the like). In a secondexample, e.g., for a task user callout, the content of the notificationmay include a notice indicating that the user has been assigned a task,and may further include controls or links for updating a status of thetask, may include controls or links for manually adding the task to theuser's task list and/or calendar, may include code for automaticallyadding the task to the user's task list and/or calendar, and the like.

In a third example, e.g., for a user callout within a message that is acommunication within a conversation thread, the content of a firstnotification may include a notice indicating that the user has beenadded or invited to a conversation thread, and may further include alink or other access to the conversation thread, may includereproductions of one or more communications within the conversationthread, and/or may act to forward the conversation thread to the user.Moreover, a second notification may be determined for other usersparticipating in the communication thread. For instance, content of thesecond notification may include a notice indicating that the user hasbeen invited to the conversation thread, a notice that communications ofthe conversation thread have been provided to the user, and/or a noticethat the conversation thread has been forwarded to the user.

For any of the above examples, e.g., when the notification is an urgentnotification, the content of the notification may further include codefor handling the notification, for causing a receiving application toperform actions, and/or for causing behaviors on the identifiedendpoint. For instance, code may be included that indicates the urgentnotification should be transmitted to all active endpoints identifiedfor a user. In this case, while a rule or policy may dictate thatnotifications should be transmitted to higher priority endpointsidentified for a user, the code may override the rule or policy suchthat the urgent notification is transmitted to all active endpointsidentified for a user. In additional or alternative examples, code maybe included that causes a receiving application to perform certainactions, e.g., promoting the receiving application from backgroundexecution to foreground execution, displaying an instant notification onthe user interface, etc. By way of further example, code may be includedthat causes certain behaviors on the identified endpoint, e.g., causesthe endpoint to trigger an audio or visual alert, causes the endpoint topower up a display, causes a user interface on the endpoint to display ared background or to flash, and the like. As should be appreciated, theabove examples are not intended to be limiting and the content of anotification other than an urgent notification may include code forhandling the notification, for causing a receiving application toperform actions, and/or for causing behaviors on the identifiedendpoint.

At identify endpoint operation 410, an endpoint may be identified for auser associated with a user callout. In some cases, multiple endpointsmay be identified for a user, e.g., a personal computer, a mobiledevice, a tablet, a smart television, etc. Identifying an endpoint mayinclude identifying a device type for the endpoint (e.g., mobile device,personal computer, tablet computer, etc.), a display type for theendpoint (e.g., monitor, television, touch enabled display, graphicaldisplay, alphanumeric display, etc.), network access available to theendpoint (e.g., access to a wide area network (WAN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), and the like, viacellular, wired, wireless, Wi-Fi, or other technology), a state of theendpoint (e.g., powered on, active, inactive, locked, sleeping, poweredoff, etc.), applications registered for the endpoint (e.g., enterpriseor third party email messaging applications, SMS messaging applications,social networking applications, instant messaging applications,voicemail applications, calendaring applications, etc.), and the like.As should be appreciated, one or more combinations of device type,display type, network availability, registered applications, and statemay be identified for an endpoint at any given time.

As used herein, an application executing in the foreground may becurrently open and interacted with on an endpoint, whereas anapplication executing in the background may not be currently interactedwith on the endpoint but may be capable of receiving, presenting, and/ortransmitting data.

For instance, identify endpoint operation 410 may determine that a firstendpoint is a mobile device, such as a “smart phone” with a graphical,touch-enabled display. At a first point in time, the first endpoint mayhave access to one or more networks via cellular and/or wireless means,and may be in an active state (e.g., powered on and recently utilized bya user). Alternatively, at a second point in time, the first endpointmay have access to one or more networks using a cellular technology andmay be in an inactive state (e.g., powered on but not recently utilizedby a user). At a third point in time, the first endpoint may be “poweredoff.”

In another example, a second endpoint may be a mobile device with analphanumeric display that is capable of receiving phone calls andtext-type messages via cellular technology but may not have access to aWAN, such as the Internet, via cellular technology. The second endpointmay further be registered with an SMS application and a voicemailapplication and may be in an inactive state (e.g., powered on but notrecently utilized by a user).

In further aspects, a third endpoint may be a tablet with a graphical,touch-enabled display that is running a gaming application in theforeground and a unified messaging application in the background. Thethird endpoint may be connected to a wireless LAN but may not havecellular access to a network, and the third endpoint may be powered onbut in an inactive and locked state (e.g., not recently utilized by auser and requiring authentication for activation).

In still further aspects, a fourth endpoint may be a personal computercoupled to a display monitor that is registered with an enterprisemessaging application, a third party email messaging application, asocial networking application, and a calendaring application. The fourthendpoint may further have access to a private LAN (e.g., enterpriseintranet) via a wired connection. The fourth endpoint may be powered onbut may be in an inactive, locked, and sleep state (e.g., not recentlyutilized by a user, requiring authentication for activation, and powereddown such that the display monitor is turned off). As noted above,identifying the endpoint may also involve identifying differentcombinations at different times of device type, display type, networkaccess, registered applications, state, etc.

At decision operation 412, it is determined whether the endpoint isregistered with the unified messaging application (UMA). In aspects,whereas the user callout may have been received at an endpointregistered with the unified messaging application, a user identified bythe user callout may be associated with one or more endpoints that arenot registered with the unified messaging application (e.g., the useridentified by the user callout may be an external user). If an endpointis registered with the unified messaging application, the methodproceeds to send notification operation 416. Alternatively, if anendpoint is not registered with the unified messaging application, themethod proceeds to transform operation 414.

At transform operation 414, the determined notification is transformedsuch that it is readable and/or renderable by one or more applicationsregistered with the one or more identified endpoints. In aspects, forapplications other than the unified messaging application, content of anotification may be altered (i.e., transformed) such that it can beprovided to a team member who is not registered with the unifiedmessaging application. That is, transforming a notification may includetranslating the notification into a representation readable by areceiving application and may also include reformatting the notificationinto a structure renderable by a receiving application and/or anidentified endpoint. Thus, transforming the notification may bedescribed in terms of a translation process (e.g., such that thenotification is in a language or format readable or understandable by aconsuming application) and a reformatting process (e.g., structuring thecontent of the notification such that it may be rendered or presented bya consuming application or by a particular endpoint). In some aspects,the transform operation may involve a single process that transforms thenotification into a language or format readable by a receivingapplication, where the receiving application performs any processingnecessary for rendering or presenting the notification on a particularendpoint.

In some aspects, the notification may be transformed differently fordifferent applications registered with different endpoints. Forinstance, the notification may be transformed based on one or morefactors associated with an identified endpoint, including a device type,display type, network access, registered applications, state, etc. Thatis, if the receiving application is an email messaging application, thenotification may be reformatted into an “email-like” structure having arecipient address, subject line and message body. Additionally, theemail-like message may be translated into a first representationreadable by an enterprise messaging application and into a secondrepresentation readable by a third party email messaging application.Alternatively, if the receiving application is an instant messagingapplication or a social networking application, the notification may bereformatted into a “chat-like” structure without a subject line. Thechat-type message may further be translated into a first representationreadable by the instant messaging application and into a secondrepresentation readable by the social networking application. Similarly,if the receiving application is an SMS application, the notification maybe reformatted into a “text-like” structure without a subject line.Moreover, the text-type message may be translated into a representationreadable by the SMS application and compatible with a cellular networkassociated with the identified endpoint. In some cases, e.g., fortext-like and chat-like messages, depending on the capabilities of areceiving application, textual content (e.g., a notice) of anotification may be transformed, but additional data (e.g., controls) ofthe notification may not be transformed or transmitted with thetext-like or chat-like message.

Furthermore, as introduced above, transform operation may be based onadditional factors, such as a device type and display type. Forinstance, while transform operation may include reformatting anotification into a structure renderable by a receiving application,transform operation may also include reformatting the notification intoa structure renderable by a particular device type having a particulardisplay type. For instance, while a personal computer may be capable ofrendering a dynamic list object within a notification, a mobile devicemay not have such capability. In this case, transform operation mayreformat the dynamic list object as a static image for rendering by themobile device. Additionally or alternatively, while with a first mobiledevice with a touch-enabled graphical display may be capable ofrendering a table object or image within a notification, a second mobiledevice with an alphanumeric display may merely be capable of rendering ashort string of textual content. In this case, transform operation maytranslate and/or reformat the notification with the textual content andthe table object or image for transmission to the first mobile device.However, transform operation may translate and/or reformat the textualcontent for transmission of the notification to the second mobiledevice, but may decline to transform or include the table object orimage with the notification.

In some cases, a notification may be transformed for transmission tomore than one messaging application (e.g., a third party email messagingapplication, an SMS application, and an instant messaging application)registered with an identified endpoint. In some cases, e.g., for anurgent notification, the notification may be transformed fortransmission to a plurality of messaging applications registered with anidentified endpoint. Alternatively, a notification may be transformedfor transmission to a subset of the messaging applications registeredwith an identified endpoint. That is, messaging applications may beprioritized such that the notification is transformed for transmissionto higher priority messaging applications but not transformed fortransmission to lower priority messaging applications. Messagingapplications may be prioritized in any suitable manner and thepriorities of messaging applications may change at different times andunder different circumstances. For instance, where such information isavailable, messaging applications that are open or executing on anendpoint may take priority over messaging applications that are not openor executing, messaging applications executing in the foreground maytake priority over messaging applications executing in the background,messaging applications capable of providing instant notifications to auser interface may take priority over messaging applications withoutthis capability, messaging applications that are accessed more often bya user may take priority over messaging applications that are accessedless often, an enterprise messaging application may take priority over athird party email messaging application during work hours, etc. Inaspects, processing resources may be conserved and efficiency may beincreased by transforming the notification for transmission to messagingapplications that are most likely to convey the notification to a user.

Additionally or alternatively, a notification may be transformed fortransmission to applications registered with multiple endpointsassociated with a user. For example, the notification may be transformedfor transmission to an enterprise messaging application registered witha first identified endpoint (e.g., a personal computer) and may betransformed for transmission to an SMS application registered with asecond identified endpoint (e.g., a mobile device). Additionally, theidentified endpoints may be prioritized such that the notification istransformed for transmission to one or more applications registered withhigher priority endpoints but not transformed for transmission to one ormore applications registered with lower priority endpoints. Endpointsmay be prioritized in any suitable manner and the prioritization ofendpoints may change at different times and under differentcircumstances. For instance, a mobile device may take priority over apersonal computer at a first time of day, but a personal computer maytake priority over a mobile device at a second time of day. Moreover,where such information is available, an endpoint in an active state maytake priority over an endpoint in an inactive state, an endpoint havingaccess to a network may take priority over an endpoint not having accessto a network, etc. In aspects, processing resources may be conserved andefficiency may be increased by transforming the notification fortransmission to applications registered with endpoints that are mostlikely to convey the notification to a user. Accordingly, transformoperation may be performed in response to evaluating a prioritization ofapplications, a prioritization of identified endpoints, or somecombination thereof, and transform operation may be performeddifferently at different times and under different circumstances.

In the ensuing examples, a simple notification may include a noticeindicating that the user was mentioned in a conversation, whereas acomplex notification may include the notice indicating that the user wasmentioned in a conversation along with additional data or information(e.g., controls, attachments, images, code, etc.). In the case of asimple notification, the notice may comprise textual content and thetransform operation may involve translating the textual content into arepresentation and/or reformatting the textual content into a structuresuch that the notice is readable and/or renderable by a receivingapplication registered with the identified endpoint. For example, wherea third party email messaging application is the receiving application,the textual content may be reformatted into an email type structure andmay be translated into a plain text representation, an HTMLrepresentation, or other representation readable by the third partyemail messaging application. Alternatively, where an enterprisemessaging application is the receiving application, the textual contentmay be reformatted into an email type structure and may be translatedinto a rich text representation, a plain text representation, an HTMLrepresentation, or other representation readable by the enterprisemessaging application. In some cases, to conserve processing resources,where receiving applications include both a third party email messagingapplication and an enterprise messaging application, the textual contentmay be translated into a representation readable by both messagingapplications, e.g., a plain text representation. Alternatively still,where an SMS application is the receiving application, the textualcontent may be reformatted into a structure (e.g., text-type structure)and translated into a representation compatible with various transferprotocols (e.g., short message transfer protocol (SM-TP), protocol dataunit type (PDUT)), and for various types of mobile networks (e.g.,global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multipleaccess (CDMA)).

In the case of a complex notification, e.g., an approval user callout,the content of the notification may include a notice indicating that theuser's approval for an item is requested (e.g., textual content), andmay optionally include one or more controls for acting on the item(e.g., for approving, rejecting, reviewing details, and the like). Inthis case, the transform operation may involve transforming the textualcontent and the controls for transmission to a receiving applicationregistered with the identified endpoint. That is, the transformoperation may reformat the textual content into a structure (e.g.,email-like message structure, text-like message structure, etc.) and thecontrols into a structure (e.g., button, link, etc.) and may translatethe textual content and the controls into a representation such that thenotification is renderable and/or readable by the receiving applicationand/or the identified endpoint. For instance, the transform operationmay reformat the control into a first structure (e.g., button) andtranslate the control into a first representation renderable and/orreadable by a first application registered with a first endpoint.Alternatively, the transform operation may reformat the control into asecond structure (e.g., link) and translate the control into a secondrepresentation renderable and/or readable by a second applicationregistered with the first endpoint or with a second endpoint.Alternatively still, for a third application having lower capabilities,the transform operation may not reformat or translate the control, butmay only transform the textual content into a third structure and/orthird representation such that the notification is renderable and/orreadable by the third application registered with the first endpoint orother endpoint.

In a further example of a complex notification (e.g., when the messageis a communication within a conversation thread), the content of thenotification may include a notice indicating that the user has beenadded or invited to a conversation thread (e.g., textual content), andmay further include a link or other access to the conversation thread,may include reproductions of one or more communications within theconversation thread, and/or may forward the conversation thread to theuser. In a first aspect, as described with reference to the approvaluser callout above, the transform operation may reformat and/ortranslate the textual content and a link to the conversation thread suchthat the notification is renderable and/or readable by a first receivingapplication (e.g., messaging application) registered with the identifiedendpoint. In a second aspect, however, depending on the capabilities ofa receiving application, the one or more communications may be providedwithin textual content of the notification rather than by a link. Forinstance, e.g., for an enterprise messaging application, the textualcontent of the notification may be reformatted into an email-likemessage structure that includes a thread of communications related tothe message; alternatively, the textual content of the notification maybe reformatted into an email-like message structure and a reproductionof the thread of communications may be provided as an attachment to theemail-like message structure. In third aspect, e.g., for an SMSapplication, the textual content of the notification may be reformattedinto a text-type message structure and the thread of communications maybe provided as an image or not provided at all.

With respect to the above-described examples for simple notificationsand complex notifications, the content of the notification may furtherinclude additional features or code for handling the notification, forcausing a receiving application to perform actions, and/or for causingbehaviors on the identified endpoint (e.g., as described for an urgentnotification). In some cases, the code may be translated into arepresentation readable by a receiving application registered with theidentified endpoint. For example, code causing a receiving applicationto be promoted from background execution to foreground execution may betranslated into a representation readable by an enterprise messagingapplication such that the enterprise messaging application is openedwithin the user interface and the notification is displayed on theidentified endpoint. Alternatively, code causing a receiving applicationto display an instant notification may be translated into arepresentation readable by a social networking application such that atleast a portion of the notification is viewable on a display associatedwith the identified endpoint. In some aspects, the code causing thereceiving application to display the instant notification may overridenotification settings for the identified endpoint.

In some cases, code causing certain behaviors on the identified endpointmay be translated into a representation readable by a receivingapplication or an operating system of the identified endpoint. Forinstance, code for triggering an audio or visual alert upon receipt ofthe notification may be translated into a representation readable by areceiving application (or the operating system) on a mobile device.Alternatively, code for powering up a display monitor upon receipt ofthe notification may be translated into a representation readable by areceiving application (or the operating system) on a personal computer.In some cases, the identified endpoint may not be capable of performingthe action instructed by the code, e.g., a mobile device with analphanumeric display may not be capable of displaying a red backgroundor causing the alphanumeric display to flash. In this case, code forperforming the action may not be transformed or transmitted with thenotification to the mobile device. However, in this case, another meansof expressing urgency may be included with the notification, e.g.,exclamations may be inserted at the end of the textual content forpresentation on the alphanumeric display.

At send notification operation 416, the notification is sent to the userregarding the user callout. In aspects, as described above, a usercallout may be recognized in a received message, e.g., a user calloutmay be recognized when an “@” symbol that is followed by a useridentifier (e.g., @Tom, @tom.gmail.com, @TomKent, etc.), or a usercallout may be recognized when a user identifier is added to a task listobject, or a user callout may be recognized when a user identifier isadded to a semantic object (e.g., an approval object, a voting object,etc.). In additional aspects, an urgent user callout may be recognizedby any suitable means, e.g., based on a flag added to the message (e.g.,“high importance” flag), based on message content (e.g., recognizingexclamation points within the textual content of the message), based onidentification of exclamation symbols with the user callout (e.g., acombination of “@!” or “!@” symbols followed by a user identifier, or“@” and “!” symbols surrounding a user identifier), and the like.Furthermore, based on recognizing a user callout, a notification for theuser identified by the user callout may be determined, as describedabove.

In some aspects, e.g., when an endpoint is registered with the unifiedmessaging application, the notification may not require transformation.That is, textual content (e.g., notice) and any additional data (e.g.,controls, links, code, images, etc.) may be included with thenotification for display on the identified endpoint without need fortransformation. The notification may be displayed within the userinterface of the unified messaging application at the identifiedendpoint, e.g., within a conversation thread. In this case, it isunnecessary to reformat the notification into an email-like messagestructure for a first receiving application, a text-like messagestructure for a second receiving application, and/or a chat-like messagestructure for a third receiving application. Rather, the notificationmay be displayed in a single suitable structure within the userinterface of the unified messaging application, the single suitablestructure may be selected at least in part based on the content of thenotification. For instance, a complex notification that includesadditional data such as a controls or links may be presented in anemail-like message structure (e.g., with a subject line indicating thatapproval is requested and/or that a task has been assigned);alternatively, a simple notification that merely includes textualcontent may be presented in a text-like message structure. Moreover, asthe user is registered with the unified messaging application, a useridentifier need not be resolved in order to send the notification to theuser. Accordingly, upon determining the notification, the notificationmay be sent to the user at an endpoint registered with the unifiedmessaging application.

On the other hand, when an identified endpoint is not registered withthe unified messaging application, a notification for the useridentified by a user callout may be transformed for transmission to oneor more receiving application registered with one or more endpointsidentified for the user, as described above. Moreover, in order to sendthe notification to the one or more receiving applications, a useridentifier may be resolved. That is, if the receiving application is athird party email messaging application, an email address associatedwith the third party email messaging application may be resolved for theuser. Alternatively, if the receiving application is an SMS application,a phone number associated with the SMS application may be resolved forthe user. In some cases, if the user is a team member, contactinformation including user identifiers associated with variousapplications may be registered with the unified messaging application.In response to resolving one or more user identifiers, the notificationmay be sent to one or more receiving applications registered with one ormore endpoints identified for the user.

As should be appreciated, operations 402-416 are described for purposesof illustrating the present methods and systems and are not intended tolimit the disclosure to a particular sequence of steps, e.g., steps maybe performed in differing order, additional steps may be performed, anddisclosed steps may be excluded without departing from the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary interface for inserting a user calloutin a message, according to an example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 500 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 502, a centerpane 504, and a right rail 506. Additionally, a conversation 516 may beselected in left rail 502 such that one or more communications 508associated with the conversation 516 are displayed in center pane 504.As illustrated, conversation 516 includes five participants, e.g., afirst user (“Ping,” accessing user), a second user (“Rob”), a third user(“Jim”), a fourth user (“Rachel”), and a fifth user (“Sophia”). In theillustrated example, the accessing user (“Ping,” see, e.g., useridentifiers 522 a and 522 b), may not be identified in a title ofconversation 516.

As further described above, the unified messaging platform may provide anew message input field, e.g., new message input field 514, for sendinga “text-like” communication. As illustrated, communication 508 a hasbeen input into new message input field 514 and the communication 508 aincludes a user callout 510 a. User callout 510 a may be recognized by asymbol (e.g., “@”) inserted before a user identifier (e.g., “RobLincoln”). For user callout 510 a, the user identifier includes a firstand last name of a user. In response to completing the message andhitting “send” or “enter,” communication 508 a may become a “receivedmessage,” as described with respect to FIG. 4.

In another example, a user callout 510 b (e.g., “@Ping”) was insertedinto communication 508 b by the fourth user (“Rachel”). For user callout510 b, the user identifier includes a first name but not a last name. Inthis case, in response to receipt of communication 508 b from Rachel(e.g., “received message”), a notification may have been sent to Pingthat provided notice of the user callout 510 b and Rachel's request forfiles. In some aspects, the notification may have included code forcausing actions to be performed by the unified messaging applicationand/or for causing behaviors on an endpoint identified for the user. Forinstance, the notification may have caused the unified messagingapplication to be promoted from background execution to foregroundexecution, may have caused the endpoint to trigger an audio or visualalert upon receipt of the notification, may have caused the notificationto be displayed in the user interface as an instant notification, mayhave caused a background of the user interface to be displayed in red,etc. As illustrated, sometime after receipt of the notification, Pingsent a reply communication 518, which is displayed within conversationthread 520 as indented below communication 508 b. Similarly, usercallout 510 c (e.g., “@Rob”) was inserted into communication 508 c byPing (e.g., “Me”).

In still another example, communication 508 d includes a task listobject 524. As illustrated, task list object 524 includes a first task526 a (e.g., “People picker wireframes”) and a second task 526 b (e.g.,“Rail Models”). Additionally, task list object 524 includes a first useridentifier 512 a that indicates a first user (e.g., “Rob Hall”) has beenassigned to the first task 526 a, and a second user identifier 512 bthat indicates a second user (e.g., “Ping Li”) has been assigned to thesecond task 526 b. Moreover, first task 526 a includes a deadline 528(e.g., “April 15, 12:00 PM”). In aspects, in response to entering a useridentifier (e.g., first user identifier 526 a), into a task list object,a user callout (e.g., a task user callout) to a user (e.g., “Rob Hall”)may be recognized. As described above, a notification may be determinedfor the task user callout which provides notice to the user (e.g.,indicating that the user was assigned a task) and may further include acontrol for adding the task to the user's task list and/or may includecode for automatically adding the task to the user's task list. Inaspects, where a deadline is provided for a task (e.g., deadline 528),the notification may further include a control and/or code for addingthe task to a calendar of the user.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 500 described with respect to FIG. 5 are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary interface for notifying a user of a usercallout in a message, according to an example embodiment. In this case,a user activity feed may provide notifications to a user regarding tasksand/or user callouts in a message.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 600 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 602, a centerpane 604, and a right rail 606. As illustrated, a user's activity 612may be displayed in center pane 604 in response to selection of tab 610a (e.g., “My Feed,” denoted by underlining). For example, among othercommunications, tab 610 a may display communications that include usercallouts identifying an accessing user (e.g., “Ping Li,” see, e.g., useridentifiers 608 a and 608 b). More specifically, user callouts 616 a,616 b, and 616 c identify the accessing user, Ping Li, and morespecifically, indicate an urgent user callout, (e.g., “@Ping!”.Additionally, tab 610 a may further display a communication including atask list object 614 that includes a user identifier 618 (e.g., “PingLi”) assigned to task 624. In aspects, activity 612 may display aplurality of user callouts such that the user may be apprised ofnotifications for tasks and/or actions in one location.

As further illustrated, additional tabs for displaying informationassociated with activity 612 are provided. For instance, tab 610 b(e.g., “@Mentions”) may display user callouts identifying the accessinguser, tab 610 c (e.g., “Pending”) may display pending tasks or actionsfor the accessing user, tab 610 d (e.g., “Deadlines”) may displaydeadlines for the accessing user, and tab 610 e (e.g., “Snoozed”) maydisplay snoozed tasks or actions (e.g., tasks or actions on hold) forthe accessing user. Additionally, icons for accessing alerts 620 and/ora calendar 622 may be provided.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 600 described with respect to FIG. 6 are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 7A illustrates an exemplary interface for resolving a user calloutfor inclusion in a message, according to an example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 700 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 702, a centerpane 704, and a right rail 706. For example, a conversation 708 may beselected in left rail 702 and displayed in center pane 704. As furtherdescribed above, the unified messaging platform may provide a newmessage input field, e.g., new message input field 710, for sending a“text-like” communication. As illustrated, communication 712 has beenpartially input into new message input field 710 such that communication712 includes a portion of a user callout 714 (e.g., “@Ro”). In aspects,upon entering the portion of the user callout 714 into new message inputfield 710, a window 716 (e.g., pop-up window) may be displayed forresolving the portion of the user callout 714.

For example, window 716 may display one or more user identifiers 718that match the portion of the user callout 714 (e.g., “Ro”). Morespecifically, user identifiers 718 begin with the letters “Ro,”including “Rob Hall,” “Roberson Crusoe,” “Rob Roy,” “Roslen Sevenson,”“Roy Cayno,” and “Roberto Gerade.” In aspects, upon selection of one ofthe user identifiers 718, the portion of the user callout 714 may beresolved and a link 720 (e.g., email address) for the selected user maybe inserted into the communication 712.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 700 described with respect to FIG. 7A are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 7B illustrates an exemplary mobile interface for resolving a usercallout for inclusion in a message, according to an example embodiment.

A web version of the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 750 for mobile devices. In aspects, the mobile user interface750 may allow a user to view a conversation (e.g., conversation 752) ina conversation pane (e.g., conversation pane 754). The mobile userinterface 750 may further provide a new message input field 756 and ainput interface 766 for inputting and sending communications toparticipants of the conversation 752. In aspects, when a communicationis sent to the participants of an ongoing conversation (e.g.,conversation 752), new message input field 756 does not requirerecipient information but may provide a subject input field, e.g.,subject input field 758, for inputting a subject of the communication,e.g., “New UX.” In some aspects, new message input field 756 may besimilar to an instant, chat, SMS, or similar messaging interface. Inother aspects, new message input field 756 may provide functionalitysimilar to an email messaging interface (e.g., allowing for uploadingattachments, etc.).

As illustrated, a communication 760 has been partially input into newmessage input field 756 such that communication 760 includes a portionof a user callout 762 (e.g., “@Matt”). In aspects, upon entering theportion of the user callout 762 into new message input field 756, abanner 764 may be displayed for resolving the portion of the usercallout 762. For example, banner 764 may display one or more useridentifiers 768 a-768 c that match the portion of the user callout 762(e.g., “@Matt”). More specifically, user identifiers 768 a-768 c beginwith the symbol-letter combination “@Matt,” such as “@MattB,”“@MatthewKA,” and “@Matteas.” In aspects, upon selection of one of theuser identifiers 768 a-768 c, the portion of the user callout 762 may becompleted and a link (e.g., email address, phone number, etc.) for theselected user may be inserted into the communication 760.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 750 described with respect to FIG. 7B are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for handling an inline reply to amessage, according to an example embodiment.

Method 800 begins with receive reply operation 802, where a reply to amessage is received. The reply to the message may be of any type orformat, including an email message, voice message, SMS message, instantmessage, and the like. In some cases, the reply to the message may bereceived from a sender at a second endpoint who is registered with oneor more of the unified messaging application, an enterprise messagingapplication, a third party email messaging application, a cellularservice plan including an SMS messaging application, an instantmessaging application, or otherwise. In other cases, the reply to themessage may be received as input from an “accessing user” of the unifiedmessaging application at a first endpoint, as described above withrespect to FIGS. 5-6.

In aspects, a reply to a message may be received upon selection of areply link (e.g., reply link 234) displayed below a message and entry ofthe reply into a message reply input field. In other aspects, a reply toa message may be received by hovering over a location within the messageor message body or by placing a cursor at a location within the messageor message body. As used herein, content of a “body” of the message(e.g., “message body”) includes content of the message exclusive ofattachments, metadata, time stamp, date, subject line, recipient field,sender field, signature block, confidentiality disclaimer, etc.Alternatively, content of the “message” may include all contentassociated with the message inclusive of attachments, metadata, timestamp, date, subject line, recipient field, sender field, signatureblock, confidentiality disclaimer, etc. For example, upon hovering overor placing a cursor at a location with the message body, a userinterface may be displayed at or near the location within the messagebody for inputting a reply message, e.g., a user interface such as amessage reply input field. In another example, a user interface may bedisplayed by hovering over and/or placing a cursor at locations within amessage (e.g., subject line, sender field, recipient field, signatureblock, etc.).

At identify structure operation 804, a structure of the message and/orthe message body may be identified. For instance, structured data may beidentified using a “wrapper,” semi-structured information such as HTMLmay be identified, natural language processing (NLP) techniques may beused to build relationships between various components within textualcontent, image and/or video detection techniques may be used, etc. Insome cases, e.g., for an email-like message, the message may involvemultiple parts (e.g., message body, subject line, recipient field,sender field, attachments, etc.). In other cases, e.g., for a text-likeor chat-like message, the message may involve minimal parts (e.g.,message body, sender field, time and/or date stamp). In some aspects, astructure for a message may include a hierarchical structure of messageparts.

Additionally, identify structure operation 804 may identify a structurefor one or more message parts. For instance, identify structureoperation 804 may identify a structure of the message body partincluding, for instance, a sentence structure, a paragraph structure, abulleted structure, an outline structure, a list structure, and thelike. In some cases, one or more elements may be associated with astructure, and each element may be associated with one or moreidentifiers. For instance, for a sentence structure, the one or moreelements may correspond to one or more sentences within the messagebody, and each sentence may be associated with one or more identifiers,e.g., an identifier associated with the message body part, an identifierassociated with the particular sentence, etc. For a bulleted structure,the one or more elements may correspond to one or more bulleted items oftext within the message body, and each bulleted item may be associatedwith one or more identifiers, e.g., an identifier associated with themessage body part, an identifier associated with the particular bulleteditem, etc.

Further, a paragraph structure may include a hierarchical structure offirst elements and second elements. That is, first elements maycorrespond to one or more paragraphs and second elements may correspondto one or more sentences. In aspects, one or more second elements (e.g.,one or more sentences) may fall within each first element (e.g.,paragraph), and one or more first elements (e.g., one or moreparagraphs) may fall within a message part (e.g., message body part). Inthis case, each first element (e.g., paragraph) may be associated withmultiple identifiers, e.g., an identifier associated with a message part(e.g., message body part), an identifier assigned to the particularfirst element (e.g., particular paragraph), etc. Additionally, eachsecond element (e.g., sentence) may be associated with multipleidentifiers, e.g., an identifier associated with the message body part,an identifier associated with a first element in which the secondelement falls (e.g., paragraph), an identifier assigned to theparticular second element (e.g., particular sentence), etc.

Further still, combinations of structures within a message body arepossible. For instance, a message body may include a paragraph structureand a bulleted structure. In this case, the message body may includefirst elements, second elements, and third elements. As detailed above,one or more second elements (e.g., one or more sentences) may fallwithin each first element (e.g., paragraph), and one or more firstelements (e.g., one or more paragraphs) may be associated with themessage body. Additionally, one or more third elements may correspond toone or more bulleted items of text within the message body. In someinstances, the one or more bulleted items may further fall within afirst element (e.g., paragraph), or may collectively comprise a firstelement (e.g., paragraph).

For purposes of clarity, in some aspects, the hierarchical structure maybe described such that a message may include one or more message parts,each message part may include one or more first elements, each firstelement may include one or more second elements, and so on. Todifferentiate between different types of elements (e.g., sentencesversus bulleted sentences), in some aspects, a first element maycomprise one or more second elements and one or more third elements at asame level of the hierarchical structure. As should be appreciated, theabove description of the hierarchical structure of a message is providedfor exemplary purposes and is not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure herein, that is, other approaches for describing messagestructures exist and any suitable description may be employed withoutdeparting from the present disclosure.

At identify location operation 806, a location of the reply with respectto the structure of the message and/or message body may be identified.For example, identifying a reply location may include identifying alocation within the structure of the message or the message body inwhich the reply was input. As described above, upon hovering over orplacing a cursor at a location within the message or message body, auser interface may be displayed at or near the location within themessage or message body for inputting a reply to the message. Inaspects, the location at which the reply was input (e.g., replylocation) may be associated with a message part (e.g., message bodypart, subject line part, etc.), one or more elements (e.g., sentence,paragraph, bulleted item, etc.), etc.

For instance, a message body may include a bulleted structure within aparagraph structure. By way of example, the message body part mayinclude four paragraphs, a first paragraph including one sentence (e.g.,salutation), a second paragraph including three sentences, a thirdparagraph comprising four bulleted items, and a fourth paragraphincluding one sentence (e.g., signature). As described above, the one ormore parts and the one or more elements of a message may each beassociated with one or more identifiers. For example, in the aboveexample, a third bulleted item may be associated with multipleidentifiers, e.g., a first identifier associated with the message bodypart, a second identifier associated with the third paragraph, and athird identifier associated with the third bullet item. In some aspects,the one or more identifiers that reference the various parts andelements of a message may be stored in a lookup table or other index.

In aspects, upon hovering over the third bulleted item, a message replyinput field may be displayed and a reply to the message may be input. Inthis case, the reply location is at the third bullet item within thethird paragraph of the message body part of the message. Identifylocation operation 806 may identify a message part and one or moreelements associated with the reply location. Furthermore, identifylocation operation 806 may determine one or more identifiers referencingthe message part and the one or more elements associated with the replylocation. In some cases, identify location operation 806 may reference alookup table or other index for determining the one or more identifiers.In the above example, the one or more identifiers determined for thereply location may include a first identifier associated with themessage body part, a second identifier associated with the thirdparagraph, and a third identifier associated with the third bullet item.As should be appreciated, the above examples are provided for exemplarypurposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosureherein, that is, other methods of identifying and indexing elementswithin a hierarchical structure are available and any suitable methodmay be employed without departing from the present disclosure.

At anchor reply operation 808, the reply may be anchored to the replylocation within the message. For example, the reply may be associatedwith the one or more identifiers determined for the reply location, asdescribed above. Alternatively, the reply may be associated with thereply location based on a different approach. According to aspects, anysuitable approach for identifying a reply location within a message andassociating the reply with the reply location may be employed within thescope of the present disclosure.

At determine presentation operation 810, a structure and content forpresenting the reply may be determined. In some instances, presentationof the reply may be determined based on the structure of the message, asdetailed above. For instance, the message may comprise a hierarchicalstructure such that the message includes one or more message parts,which may include one or more first elements, which may include one ormore second elements and/or one or more third elements, and so on. Morespecifically, with reference to the above example, the hierarchicalstructure of the message may be described such that the message includesa message body part (e.g., message body), which includes four firstelements (e.g., four paragraphs), where a third one of the firstelements (e.g., third paragraph) includes four second elements (e.g.,four bulleted items).

As detailed above, the reply may be anchored to a reply location, whichmay be associated with the structure of the message. That is, the replymay be associated with an identifier referencing a message part, and oneor more identifiers referencing one or more elements of the message.With reference to the example above, the reply may be associated with afirst identifier referencing the message body part, a second identifierreferencing the third paragraph, and a third identifier referencing thethird bullet item.

In some aspects, the reply may be presented “inline” within the messagestructure. That is, the reply may be inserted as part of the messagerather than as a separate message (e.g., such as a reply message in aconversation thread). In this case, to determine a presentationstructure, the reply may be inserted as an additional element within themessage structure. For example, for a reply anchored to the third one ofthe second elements, the reply may be inserted as a third element underthe third one of the second elements. In aspects, when presenting ordisplaying the reply, content of the reply may be displayed within thecontent of the message, e.g., indented below the third bulleted item ofthe third paragraph of the message body. In other aspects, the contentof the reply may be displayed within the content of the message withoutindentation in a different font color below the third bulleted item ofthe third paragraph. In still further aspects, the content of the replymay be displayed within the content of the message in a text box or acomment bubble to the side or below the third bulleted item of the thirdparagraph. A number of different presentation options exist and may beemployed without departing from the present disclosure.

Presenting a reply “inline” with the message allows users to efficientlycollaborate regarding specific aspects of a message. For instance, wherethe message includes a plurality of elements, e.g., four topics forreview, or three action items that need to be completed, or twelve itemsthat need to be brought for a surprise party, recipients of the messageare able to insert replies within the message body to specificallyaddress individual elements. Traditionally, a user would “reply to all”or “forward” a message in order to interact with other users, however,this method creates numerous copies of the original message, oftenrequires a user to input clarifying information (e.g., “With respect to#1 . . . ”), clutters recipient inboxes, and necessitates compiling orsynchronizing answers and/or comments across the various replies.

To overcome the above issues, the present methods allow a user to inserta reply within a single version or representation of a message. Thus,rather than creating multiple copies of the message by “replying to all”or “forwarding” the message, multiple users are able to collaborateregarding the single version of the message. For endpoints registeredwith the unified messaging application, for instance, the single versionof the message may be presented within a conversation in a central paneof the user interface and participants to the conversation may insertreplies, comments, updates, etc., to specific elements within the singleversion of the message. In some aspects, based on a time of the lastreply or comment, the single version of the message may be presentedwithin the conversation in ascending chronological order (e.g., mostrecent message presented at the bottom of the conversation) ordescending chronological order (e.g., most recent message presented atthe top of the conversation) in the central pane. Thus, as users areresponding to and commenting on specific elements within a message,participating users are able to easily and efficiently stay abreast ofupdates and changes in real-time because inline replies occur in onelocation.

At identify endpoint operation 812, an endpoint may be identified forone or more users to whom the reply to the message may be transmitted ordisplayed. In some cases, one or more endpoints may be identified foreach user, e.g., a personal computer, a mobile device, a tablet, a smarttelevision, etc. Identifying an endpoint may include identifying adevice type for the endpoint (e.g., mobile device, personal computer,tablet computer, etc.), a display type for the endpoint (e.g., monitor,television, touch enabled display, graphical display, alphanumericdisplay, etc.), network access available to the endpoint (e.g., accessto a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a virtualprivate network (VPN), and the like, via cellular, wired, wireless,Wi-Fi, or other technology), a state of the endpoint (e.g., powered on,active, inactive, locked, sleeping, powered off, etc.), applicationsregistered to the endpoint (e.g., enterprise or third party emailmessaging applications, SMS messaging applications, social networkingapplications, instant messaging applications, voicemail applications,calendaring applications, etc.), and the like. As should be appreciated,one or more combinations of device type, display type, network access,registered applications, and state may be identified for an endpoint atany one time. In aspects, identify endpoint operation 810 is similar toidentify endpoint operation 410, as described above.

At decision operation 814, it is determined whether an endpoint isregistered with a unified messaging application. In aspects, whereas thereply to the message may have been received at an endpoint registeredwith the unified messaging application, the reply to the message may bedisplayed or provided to users on endpoints that are not registered withthe unified messaging application. If an endpoint is registered with theunified messaging application, the method proceeds to send operation818. Alternatively, if an endpoint is not registered with the unifiedmessaging application, the method proceeds to transform operation 816.

At transform operation 816, the presentation structure is transformedsuch that it is readable and/or renderable by one or more applicationsregistered with the one or more identified endpoints. That is, while aninline reply may be fully readable and/or presentable to a useraccessing the unified messaging platform, the inline reply may need tobe transformed in order to be readable and/or presentable to an externaluser. For instance, if the message with the inline reply is sent to anexternal email address (e.g., third party email messing application),the presentation structure may be transformed into: “Person A commentedon <anchored content>: <inline comment body.”

As used herein, a presentation structure may include the content of themessage and the content of the reply in a structured format. In someaspects, for applications other than the unified messaging application,the presentation structure for an inline reply may be altered (i.e.,transformed) such that it can be provided to a team member who is notregistered with the unified messaging application. That is, transformingthe presentation structure may include translating the presentationstructure into a representation readable by a receiving application andmay also include reformatting the presentation structure such that it isrenderable by a receiving application registered with the identifiedendpoint. Thus, transforming the presentation structure may be describedin terms of a translation process (e.g., such that the presentationstructure is in a language or format readable or understandable by aconsuming application) and a reformatting process (e.g., providing thepresentation structure in a form such that it may be rendered orpresented by a consuming application or by a particular endpoint). Insome aspects, the transform operation may involve a single process thattransforms the presentation structure into a language or format readableby a receiving application, where the receiving application performs anyprocessing necessary for rendering or presenting the message with theinline reply on a particular endpoint.

In some aspects, the presentation structure may be transformeddifferently for different applications registered with differentendpoints. For instance, the presentation structure may be transformedbased on one or more factors associated with an identified endpoint,including a device type, display type, registered applications, etc. Forinstance, if the receiving application is a third party email messagingapplication, the presentation structure may be reformatted, ifnecessary, to correspond to an “email-like” structure having a recipientfield part, a subject line part, and message body part, as describedabove. The message body may further comprise a hierarchical structureincluding one or more first elements, the one or more first elementsincluding one or more second elements, as described above.

In aspects, the presentation structure includes the content of the replyanchored to the reply location within the message such that the reply isincluded within the hierarchical structure of the message. Thepresentation structure may further be translated into a firstrepresentation readable by an enterprise messaging application and intoa second representation readable by a third party email messagingapplication. In some cases, a third party email messaging applicationmay be unable to process a hierarchical structure for a message. In thiscase, the presentation structure may be flattened such that content forthe message and the reply are provided in a linear structure. In orderto emphasize the reply within the message, the reply may be presented ina different colored font, bold font, underlining, or otherwise.Moreover, in some instances, the presentation structure may not betransmitted to certain types of receiving applications, e.g., an SMSapplication, an instant messaging application, a social networkingapplication, and the like.

Furthermore, as introduced above, transform operation may be based onadditional factors, such as a device type and display type. Forinstance, while transform operation may include reformatting apresentation structure such that it is renderable by a receivingapplication, transform operation may also include reformatting thepresentation structure such that it is renderable by a particular devicetype having a particular display type. For instance, while a personalcomputer may be capable of rendering a message having an inline reply, amobile device may not have such capability. In this case, transformoperation may reformat the presentation structure (e.g., the messagewith the inline reply) as a digital image (e.g., .jpeg) or in a portabledocument format (PDF) for rendering by the mobile device.

At send operation 818, the presentation structure for a message with aninline reply is sent to one or more endpoints. In some aspects, e.g.,when the one or more endpoints identified for the user are registeredwith the unified messaging application, presenting the message with theinline reply may not require transformation. That is, as describedabove, when the reply is sent (e.g., upon a user inputting the reply ata location within the message), a single version of the message with theinline reply may be presented within a conversation in a central pane ofa user interface of the unified messaging platform. More specifically,based on the example detailed above, the reply may be presented asindented below the third bulleted item of the third paragraph of themessage body, or presented without indentation in a different font colorbelow the third bulleted item of the third paragraph, or presented in atext box or a comment bubble to the side or below the third bulleteditem of the third paragraph.

Alternatively, when an endpoint is not registered with the unifiedmessaging application, the transformed presentation structure for themessage with the inline reply may be sent to a receiving application.The receiving application may then render or present a copy of themessage with the inline reply to a user at the identified endpoint. Inthis case, when an endpoint is not registered with the unified messagingapplication, while the user may benefit from receiving a copy of themessage with the inline reply, the user may not benefit from viewing asingle synchronized version of the message in real-time as inlinereplies and comments are inserted.

As should be appreciated, operations 802-818 are described for purposesof illustrating the present methods and systems and are not intended tolimit the disclosure to a particular sequence of steps, e.g., steps maybe performed in differing order, additional steps may be performed, anddisclosed steps may be excluded without departing from the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary interface for initiating an inline replyin a message, according to an example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 900 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 902, a centerpane 904, and a right rail 906. In aspects, as described above, uponselecting a conversation (e.g., conversation 908) within an email portal(e.g., email portal 910) in the left rail 902, the conversation 908 withone or more communications 912 may be displayed in center pane 904. Asillustrated by FIG. 9, conversation 908 has been selected and thecommunications 912 between a first user and a second user (e.g., Rachel)are displayed in center pane 904. In this example, the first user refersto the particular user accessing the unified messaging application(e.g., Ping Li) identified by user name 914 a and user icon 914 b.

In aspects, a communication 912 a from Rachel was received. Thecommunication 912 a is a message including content 918, which includes alist of items 920, e.g., “1) Something, 2) Another thing, 3) A thirdimportant point, 4) And this is the fourth point.” As illustrated, areply link 922 is displayed under communication 912 a, whereas an inlinereply link 924 is displayed to the left of the list of items 920. Insome cases, the inline reply link 924 is not displayed unless and untila user hovers over the list of items 920 or places a cursor within thelist of items 920.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 900 described with respect to FIG. 9 are not intended tolimit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary interface for presenting an inlinereply in a message, according to an example embodiment.

As described above, the unified messaging platform may provide a userinterface 1000 including three panes, e.g., a left rail 1002, a centerpane 1004, and a right rail 1006. In aspects, as described above, uponselecting a category (e.g., category 1008) in the left rail 1002, aconversation may be displayed upon selecting conversation tab 1010. Theconversation may include one or more communications 1012 displayed incenter pane 1004.

As illustrated by FIG. 10, communication 1012 a includes a salutation1014 (e.g., introduction) and a list of items 1016. A structure forcommunication 1012 a may be described as a paragraph structure, a liststructure, or a combination thereof. For a paragraph structure,communication 1012 a may be described as including four paragraphs(e.g., four elements), a first paragraph including salutation 1014, asecond paragraph including the first list item 1016 a of the list ofitems 1016, a third paragraph including the second list item 1016 b ofthe list of items 1016, and a four paragraph including the third listitem 1016 c of the list of items 1016. Alternatively, for a combinationof a list structure and a paragraph structure, communication 1012 a maybe described as including two paragraphs (e.g., first elements), thefirst paragraph including salutation 1014, and the second paragraphincluding three list items (e.g., second elements). That is, the secondparagraph may be described as including the first list item 1016 a, thesecond list item 1016 b, and the third list item 1016 c of the list ofitems 1016. As should be appreciated, the above description of thestructure of communication 1012 a is provided for exemplary purposes andis not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure herein, that is,other approaches for describing message structures exist and anysuitable description may be employed without departing from the presentdisclosure.

As described above, inline replies may be inserted into a communicationby selecting an inline reply link (e.g., inline reply link 924, asdescribed in FIG. 9). As further illustrated by FIG. 10, inline replies1018 a-1018 d are displayed below one or more of the list items 1016a-1016 c. That is, inline reply 1018 a is a comment or update regardinglist item 1016 a and is displayed below list item 1016 a in a coloredfont (e.g., green). Moreover, a user identifier 1020 referencing theuser (e.g., “Gerald”) who sent the inline reply 1018 a is displayed tothe left of the inline reply. Inline replies 1018 b-1018 d are commentsor updates regarding list item 1016 b. For instance, inline reply 1018 band inline reply 1018 d sent from Rachel are displayed below list item1016 b in a colored font (e.g., blue), and inline reply 1018 c sent fromMike is displayed below list item 1016 b in a colored font (e.g., red).List item 1016 c has not received a reply.

As illustrated, inline replies 1018 a-1018 d are displayed belowrespective list items 1016 a and 1016 b in different font colors.However, other display methods are available and may be employed withoutdeparting from the present disclosure. For instance, inline replies maybe displayed as indented below respective elements of a message, orinline replies may be displayed as comment bubbles below or to the sideof respective elements of a message.

As should be appreciated, the various features and functionalities ofuser interface 1000 described with respect to FIG. 10 are not intendedto limit associated systems and methods to the particular features andfunctionalities described. Accordingly, additional features andfunctionalities may be associated with the systems and methods describedherein and/or some features and functionalities described may beexcluded without departing from the systems and methods describedherein.

FIGS. 11-14 and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of avariety of operating environments in which aspects of the disclosure maybe practiced. However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussedwith respect to FIGS. 11-14 are for purposes of example and illustrationand are not limiting of a vast number of computing device configurationsthat may be utilized for practicing aspects of the disclosure, describedherein

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating physical components (e.g.,hardware) of a computing device 1100 with which aspects of thedisclosure may be practiced. The computing device components describedbelow may have computer executable instructions for implementing aunified messaging application on a server computing device 106 (orserver computing device 308), including computer executable instructionsfor unified messaging application 1120 that can be executed to employthe methods disclosed herein. In a basic configuration, the computingdevice 1100 may include at least one processing unit 1102 and a systemmemory 1104. Depending on the configuration and type of computingdevice, the system memory 1104 may comprise, but is not limited to,volatile storage (e.g., random access memory), non-volatile storage(e.g., read-only memory), flash memory, or any combination of suchmemories. The system memory 1104 may include an operating system 1105and one or more program modules 1106 suitable for running unifiedmessaging application 1120, such as one or more components in regards toFIG. 3 and, in particular, scan component 1111, context identifier 1113,notification component 1115, or transform component 1117. The operatingsystem 1105, for example, may be suitable for controlling the operationof the computing device 1100. Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosuremay be practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operatingsystems, or any other application program and is not limited to anyparticular application or system. This basic configuration isillustrated in FIG. 11 by those components within a dashed line 1108.The computing device 1100 may have additional features or functionality.For example, the computing device 1100 may also include additional datastorage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example,magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage isillustrated in FIG. 11 by a removable storage device 1109 and anon-removable storage device 1110.

As stated above, a number of program modules and data files may bestored in the system memory 1104. While executing on the processing unit1102, the program modules 1106 (e.g., unified messaging application1120) may perform processes including, but not limited to, the aspects,as described herein. Other program modules that may be used inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure, and in particular forproviding a unified messaging platform, may include scan component 1111,context identifier 1113, notification component 1115, or transformcomponent 1117, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in anelectrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged orintegrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizinga microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements ormicroprocessors. For example, embodiments of the disclosure may bepracticed via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of thecomponents illustrated in FIG. 11 may be integrated onto a singleintegrated circuit. Such an SOC device may include one or moreprocessing units, graphics units, communications units, systemvirtualization units and various application functionality all of whichare integrated (or “burned”) onto the chip substrate as a singleintegrated circuit. When operating via an SOC, the functionality,described herein, with respect to the capability of client to switchprotocols may be operated via application-specific logic integrated withother components of the computing device 1100 on the single integratedcircuit (chip). Embodiments of the disclosure may also be practicedusing other technologies capable of performing logical operations suchas, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited tomechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition,embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced within a general purposecomputer or in any other circuits or systems.

The computing device 1100 may also have one or more input device(s) 1112such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound or voice input device, atouch or swipe input device, etc. The output device(s) 1114 such as adisplay, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included. Theaforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. Thecomputing device 1100 may include one or more communication connections1116 allowing communications with other computing devices 1150. Examplesof suitable communication connections 1116 include, but are not limitedto, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceivercircuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.

The term computer readable media as used herein may include computerstorage media. Computer storage media may include volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any methodor technology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory1104, the removable storage device 1109, and the non-removable storagedevice 1110 are all computer storage media examples (e.g., memorystorage). Computer storage media may include RAM, ROM, electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacturewhich can be used to store information and which can be accessed by thecomputing device 1100. Any such computer storage media may be part ofthe computing device 1100. Computer storage media does not include acarrier wave or other propagated or modulated data signal.

Communication media may be embodied by computer readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated datasignal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, andincludes any information delivery media. The term “modulated datasignal” may describe a signal that has one or more characteristics setor changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Byway of example, and not limitation, communication media may includewired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, andwireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, andother wireless media.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate a mobile computing device 1200, forexample, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, wearable computer (such as asmart watch), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and the like, withwhich embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced. In some aspects,the client may be a mobile computing device. With reference to FIG. 12A,one aspect of a mobile computing device 1200 for implementing theaspects is illustrated. In a basic configuration, the mobile computingdevice 1200 is a handheld computer having both input elements and outputelements. The mobile computing device 1200 typically includes a display1205 and one or more input buttons 1210 that allow the user to enterinformation into the mobile computing device 1200. The display 1205 ofthe mobile computing device 1200 may also function as an input device(e.g., a touch screen display). If included, an optional side inputelement 1215 allows further user input. The side input element 1215 maybe a rotary switch, a button, or any other type of manual input element.In alternative aspects, mobile computing device 1200 may incorporatemore or less input elements. For example, the display 1205 may not be atouch screen in some embodiments. In yet another alternative embodiment,the mobile computing device 1200 is a portable phone system, such as acellular phone. The mobile computing device 1200 may also include anoptional keypad 1235. Optional keypad 1235 may be a physical keypad or a“soft” keypad generated on the touch screen display. In variousembodiments, the output elements include the display 1205 for showing agraphical user interface (GUI), a visual indicator 1220 (e.g., a lightemitting diode), and/or an audio transducer 1225 (e.g., a speaker). Insome aspects, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates a vibrationtransducer for providing the user with tactile feedback. In yet anotheraspect, the mobile computing device 1200 incorporates input and/oroutput ports, such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audiooutput (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port)for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device.

FIG. 12B is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of one aspectof a mobile computing device. That is, the mobile computing device 1200can incorporate a system (e.g., an architecture) 1202 to implement someaspects. In one embodiment, the system 1202 is implemented as a “smartphone” capable of running one or more applications (e.g., browser,e-mail, calendaring, contact managers, messaging clients, games, andmedia clients/players). In some aspects, the system 1202 is integratedas a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant(PDA) and wireless phone.

One or more application programs 1266 may be loaded into the memory 1262and run on or in association with the operating system 1264. Examples ofthe application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs,personal information management (PIM) programs, word processingprograms, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messagingprograms, and so forth. The system 1202 also includes a non-volatilestorage area 1268 within the memory 1262. The non-volatile storage area1268 may be used to store persistent information that should not be lostif the system 1202 is powered down. The application programs 1266 mayuse and store information in the non-volatile storage area 1268, such ase-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. Asynchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 1202and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronizationapplication resident on a host computer to keep the information storedin the non-volatile storage area 1268 synchronized with correspondinginformation stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, otherapplications may be loaded into the memory 1262 and run on the mobilecomputing device 1200, including the instructions for providing aunified messaging platform as described herein (e.g., search engine,extractor module, relevancy ranking module, answer scoring module,etc.).

The system 1202 has a power supply 1270, which may be implemented as oneor more batteries. The power supply 1270 might further include anexternal power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradlethat supplements or recharges the batteries.

The system 1202 may also include a radio interface layer 1272 thatperforms the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequencycommunications. The radio interface layer 1272 facilitates wirelessconnectivity between the system 1202 and the “outside world,” via acommunications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and fromthe radio interface layer 1272 are conducted under control of theoperating system 1264. In other words, communications received by theradio interface layer 1272 may be disseminated to the applicationprograms 1266 via the operating system 1264, and vice versa.

The visual indicator 1220 may be used to provide visual notifications,and/or an audio interface 1274 may be used for producing audiblenotifications via the audio transducer 1225. In the illustratedembodiment, the visual indicator 1220 is a light emitting diode (LED)and the audio transducer 1225 is a speaker. These devices may bedirectly coupled to the power supply 1270 so that when activated, theyremain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism eventhough the processor 1260 and other components might shut down forconserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain onindefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-onstatus of the device. The audio interface 1274 is used to provideaudible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. Forexample, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 1225, theaudio interface 1274 may also be coupled to a microphone to receiveaudible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. Inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the microphonemay also serve as an audio sensor to facilitate control ofnotifications, as will be described below. The system 1202 may furtherinclude a video interface 1276 that enables an operation of an on-boardcamera 1230 to record still images, video stream, and the like.

A mobile computing device 1200 implementing the system 1202 may haveadditional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computingdevice 1200 may also include additional data storage devices (removableand/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape.Such additional storage is illustrated in FIG. 12B by the non-volatilestorage area 1268.

Data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device1200 and stored via the system 1202 may be stored locally on the mobilecomputing device 1200, as described above, or the data may be stored onany number of storage media that may be accessed by the device via theradio interface layer 1272 or via a wired connection between the mobilecomputing device 1200 and a separate computing device associated withthe mobile computing device 1200, for example, a server computer in adistributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should beappreciated such data/information may be accessed via the mobilecomputing device 1200 via the radio interface layer 1272 or via adistributed computing network. Similarly, such data/information may bereadily transferred between computing devices for storage and useaccording to well-known data/information transfer and storage means,including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharingsystems.

FIG. 13 illustrates one aspect of the architecture of a system forprocessing data received at a computing system from a remote source,such as a personal computer 1304, tablet computing device 1306, ormobile computing device 1308, as described above. Content displayed atserver device 1302 may be stored in different communication channels orother storage types. For example, various documents may be stored usinga directory service 1322, a web portal 1324, a mailbox service 1326, aninstant messaging store 1328, or a social networking site 1330. Theunified messaging application 1320 may be employed by a client thatcommunicates with server device 1302, and/or the unified messagingapplication 1320 may be employed by server device 1302. The serverdevice 1302 may provide data to and from a client computing device suchas a personal computer 1304, a tablet computing device 1306 and/or amobile computing device 1308 (e.g., a smart phone) through a network1315. By way of example, the computer system described above withrespect to FIGS. 1-12 may be embodied in a personal computer 1304, atablet computing device 1306 and/or a mobile computing device 1308(e.g., a smart phone). Any of these embodiments of the computing devicesmay obtain content from the store 1316, in addition to receivinggraphical data useable to be either pre-processed at agraphic-originating system, or post-processed at a receiving computingsystem.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary tablet computing device 1400 that mayexecute one or more aspects disclosed herein. In addition, the aspectsand functionalities described herein may operate over distributedsystems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where applicationfunctionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processingfunctions may be operated remotely from each other over a distributedcomputing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. User interfacesand information of various types may be displayed via on-board computingdevice displays or via remote display units associated with one or morecomputing devices. For example user interfaces and information ofvarious types may be displayed and interacted with on a wall surfaceonto which user interfaces and information of various types areprojected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems withwhich embodiments of the invention may be practiced include, keystrokeentry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entrywhere an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g.,camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures forcontrolling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.

Aspects of the present disclosure, for example, are described above withreference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods,systems, and computer program products according to aspects of thedisclosure. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown insuccession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or theblocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending uponthe functionality/acts involved.

The description and illustration of one or more aspects provided in thisapplication are not intended to limit or restrict the scope of thedisclosure as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and detailsprovided in this application are considered sufficient to conveypossession and enable others to make and use the best mode of claimeddisclosure. The claimed disclosure should not be construed as beinglimited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application.Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately,the various features (both structural and methodological) are intendedto be selectively included or omitted to produce an embodiment with aparticular set of features. Having been provided with the descriptionand illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art mayenvision variations, modifications, and alternate aspects falling withinthe spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive conceptembodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scopeof the claimed disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: at least one processingunit; and at least one memory storing computer executable instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause thesystem to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving a reply toa message; identifying a location of the reply within the message;determining a presentation structure for displaying the reply within themessage; and displaying the presentation structure.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: anchoring the reply to the message.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising: identifying an endpointassociated with a recipient of the reply; and sending the presentationstructure to the recipient.
 4. The system of claim 3, furthercomprising: determining whether the endpoint is registered with aunified messaging application; and in response to determining that theendpoint is not registered with the unified messaging application,transforming the presentation structure.
 5. The system of claim 3,further comprising: determining whether the endpoint is registered witha unified messaging application; and in response to determining that theendpoint is registered with the unified messaging application,displaying the reply within the message in a user interface of theunified messaging application.
 6. The system of claim 3, whereinidentifying the endpoint further comprises identifying one or more of: adevice type for the endpoint; a display type for the endpoint; and oneor more applications registered for the endpoint.
 7. The system of claim3, further comprising: determining that the endpoint is registered witha third party email messaging application; and transforming thepresentation structure for transmission to the third party emailmessaging application.
 8. The system of claim 3, further comprising:determining that the endpoint is registered with an enterprise messagingapplication; and transforming the presentation structure fortransmission to the enterprise messaging application.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: reformatting the presentation structure asan image.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: translating thepresentation structure into a representation readable by a receivingapplication.
 11. A system comprising: at least one processing unit; andat least one memory storing computer executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processing unit, cause the system toperform a method, the method comprising: receiving a reply to a message;identifying a message structure; identifying a location of the replywithin the message structure; determining a presentation structure fordisplaying the reply within the message; identifying an endpointassociated with a recipient of the reply; and sending the presentationstructure to the endpoint.
 12. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising: anchoring the reply to the message structure.
 13. The systemof claim 11, further comprising: determining whether the endpoint isregistered with a unified messaging application; and in response todetermining that the endpoint is not registered with the unifiedmessaging application, transforming the presentation structure.
 14. Thesystem of claim 11, further comprising: determining whether the endpointis registered with a unified messaging application; and in response todetermining that the endpoint is registered with the unified messagingapplication, displaying the reply within the message in a user interfaceof the unified messaging application.
 15. The system of claim 11,further comprising: determining that the endpoint is registered with athird party email messaging application; and transforming thepresentation structure for transmission to the third party emailmessaging application.
 16. The system of claim 11, further comprising:determining that the endpoint is registered with an enterprise messagingapplication; and transforming the presentation structure fortransmission to the enterprise messaging application.
 17. The system ofclaim 13, further comprising: reformatting the presentation structure asan image.
 18. A method of determining a presentation structure fordisplaying a reply to a message, the method comprising: receiving amessage at a first time; displaying the message among a plurality ofmessages in an order based on the first time; receiving a reply to themessage at a second time; determining a presentation structure fordisplaying the reply and the message, wherein the presentation structureassociates the message and the reply in a conversation thread; anddisplaying the conversation thread among the plurality of messages basedon the second time, wherein the message is reordered among the pluralityof messages based on the second time.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein the presentation structure comprises one or more of: displayingthe reply below the message within the conversation thread; indentingthe reply within the conversation thread; displaying the reply in adifferent font within the conversation threat; displaying the reply in acomment bubble within the conversation thread; and bulleting the replywithin the conversation thread.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein theplurality of messages are associated with a conversation.